


Ad Astra

by noxnight



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: And with a Plan, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Reylo, F/M, I'm Pretty Sure They Could Survive Just Off Sarcasm, Implied Poe Dameron/Finn, Jedi Rey, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo is Just Trying to Figure It Out, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rey is definitely OP, Romance of Sorts, Slow Burn, Three Years After StarKiller, Time Travel with a side of Paradox- please
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-22 22:20:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 71,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7456033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxnight/pseuds/noxnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the help of her Master and guidance from the Force, Rey joins Kylo Ren in order to redeem him AND save the galaxy through a plan that requires mastery of a skill created and destroyed ages ago. If it was up to her, she'd just focus on saving the galaxy.</p><p>From Chapter 5:<br/>“What does the Force tell you when you meditate?” </p><p>  Rey looked back to him. She studied the outline of his face, darken from the night but the flames from the fire ever-determined to show him in light. A piece of timber collapsed and embers danced into the air. </p><p>   “That there has to be balance.”</p><p>   “The force has been saying that for eons. What does the Force really tell you?” Rey picked up a stray stick and pushed the wood around the flames.</p><p>   “If we continue down this path, we will fight. And I will kill you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. AKA A Really Bad Plan

   The forest was at a standstill as if it was also holding its breath. The sun was basking Rey in light as she meditated on a large boulder in the middle of a meadow in Takodana. Her three buns in place, stray strands of hair blowing with the gentle wind. Her attire was a light blue mixed with fabrics of purple, the design still very much similar to her favorite scavenger outfit, a design she just couldn't part with. Rey's eyes were closed, her breathing slow and purposeful, with her energy focusing on any guidance the Force was willing to share with her. Not to her surprise, she didn't have to wait long for Anakin Skywalker to appear. He walked towards her, or rather, floated towards her. 

   “Rey of Jakku.” Anakin sat next to Rey, crossed his leg and faced the same direction Rey had been looking at. Rey sighed and opened her eyes.

   “Master, we’ve talked about this. Jakku does not hold the same meaning as your own desert planet. I am just Rey.”

   “Regardless, _Just Rey_ , I think you need to take a deep breath. You’re scaring the forest. Both my son and I have reminded you that you won't be alone in this. But if you feel you are not ready for this path, I can delay his arrival for you with enough time for you leave and continue training with Master Luke. Too many have been told their destiny is a one path towards greatness with no opportunity to explore their destiny. You will find your own way and we will guide you.” She gave a hard look into the woods and then took a deep, slow breath. The forest resumed movement.

   “That is not necessary, master. Though as I said countless times, I feel like his redemption does not hinge on this as you both have determined it to be so. Doing it by myself will be just as possible as somehow persuading him to be by my side. He's lost. ‘Fixing him’ has nothing to do with me and even then such redemption is impossible- even with our plan in place. We would know, so would the Force." She sighed again. Her hazel eyes looked at Anakin. 

   "But I agreed to this plan. I just worry about the others. How will this impact Finn?” Rey suddenly felt a great desire to move or even flee but she felt his arrival and was nearing her. She was not going to make his search easier by moving around.

   “Perhaps an opportunity will present itself to protect your friend.” Anakin shifted and stood. Rey narrowed her eyes.

   “How much did you see?”

    “Young padawan, I feel as if knowing too much will harm you rather than help and you already have so much to work out as it is. Just remember, this path has the ability for peace but it also has many branches for failure, hardship, and death. Do not feel as if you only must move the galaxy. You know the way of the Light as my son does. My grandson is much like me- knows both ways and yet has chosen the path of destruction. To be the chosen ones and yet each of us failed to find the balance.. I believe…”

    “You believe?” Rey could feel _his_ presence approaching as well as others smaller life sources. Anakin looked at Rey with a blank face and then to the east.

     “Another time, _Just Rey_. Teach my grandson. Believe in yourself. And may the Force be with you.”

     “And also with you, Master.” She sighed and braced herself. Anakin faded and Rey could hear movement from all directions from the forest, but his presence was to the east of her. She chuckled. And allowed herself to open up to contact Ben.  _I can’t believe you think fifteen stormtroopers is enough. I’d suggest that it’s just you that joins me, though._

    Movement stop and suddenly Rey heard a lightsaber opened. She didn't need to look to her right to see his broken red plasma.  _You want a fight, scavenger?_

     The desire to roll her eyes was strong but now was not the time to be childish. She spotted Kylo Ren stepping out of the forest, lightsaber in hand. Tentatively watching her, waiting to make her move so he could react accordingly. Rey stayed in her meditation position waiting as he walked across the field. _Don’t be daft... Ben_.

    That was enough for Kylo Ren to make his decision; suddenly he took off in a run towards her. Steps away he gave a yelled drawing his swing towards her head. Rey stood while unhinging her lightsaber from her belt and hitting the toggle to expand to a staff and blocked his attack in one swift motion. Broken red versus brilliant green. 

    “Fine, _Kylo_. Listen, we need to talk." Rey yelled through the sounds of the lightsabers. She felt for a brief moment confusion coming from him before he placed a wall over his emotions, a decision reached. She placed her walls back up in response. Kylo made another attempt to swing. Rey jumped off the boulder and stood facing towards him, staff in defensive position. She couldn't read his face behind the mask, she reached the peak of her patience.

   “Enough!” Rey lifted her arm and used the Force to ripped his saber out his hand with a flick of wrist. Kylo stood surprised on top of the boulder. Rey's focus was on her enemy and had completely forgotten about the others in the woods. So when she heard a blaster was shot from the forest, her response time was already delayed. Too fast to dodge, Rey embraced for the hit but it never came.

   The shot was suspended about a foot away. Close enough to radiate heat that was burning into her back. Kylo hadn’t even lifted his hand to stop it but she knew he was responsible for it not hitting its mark. Rey stood there completely dumbfounded. In the three years of training, it never occurred to her that the Force could even stop a blaster. She would have almost admit she was in awe if it hadn’t been Ben who stopped it. She took a step to the side and felt the blaster move an inch and stopped. Kylo jumped down and looked at her.

   “I wouldn’t move if I were you. I can just as easily released the blaster and change it's course to hit you. Now, Explain yourself. It's been three years, scavenger. And you suddenly show yourself for me to find. That seems awfully suspicious. What do you want?” He took a few steps closer to her. Rey reaffirmed that her mental walls were up. He wasn’t going to go through her head again.

    “You said I need a teacher. So teach me.” She felt his falter and his focused interuppted and realized she had a millisecond to react. Rey ducked and rolled as the blaster sped past her, hitting the boulder with a smash. She groaned and stood up, pressing her hand into her left arm where a slight burned was now residing. But the pain was manageable and she refocused on the man in black. Kylo reeked of confusion. She waved her right arm in annoyance.

    “What the fuck, Ben?! What type of person loses focus that easily. That was total bull-”

    “Stop your excessive babbling. You’re very clearly a Jedi. Why would you want a teacher?” Kylo approached Rey in three long strides, towering over her by at least a foot. Rey held her ground, staring at his mask. She was about to explain but since a stormtrooper reminded her they weren’t alone she decided a different tactic. She opened a sliver of herself and made contact through another means.

 _It’s complicated. Take me as a prisoner if you must, but I won’t explain with your men right here._ Kylo stood straighter and then lifted his left hand. Rey recognizing his tactic, Rey reached out and shoved his arm down and then rushed closer to him to prevent another 'good Samaritan' stormtrooper to shoot again for going against their leader. Inches away she angrily whispered, “Don’t be such a child, Ben! Killing your men right now just to hear everything is impatient.”   

   “You don’t want me to kill them despite one of them causing that?” Kylo placed his palm around her wound and squeezed hard. Rey flinched from the pain but resolved not to back down already. Behind Kylo, about twenty feet away, Rey saw Anakin staring right back her. She sighed and looked back at the mask of Kylo Ren.

    “I’m a Jedi, Ben. Of course I do not. No games.” Kylo squeezed her injury again and pulled her to him, almost in an embraced. He lowered his head and looked to her.

    “Do not call me Ben. I am Kylo Ren.” he whispered irritably through his mask. Still gripping Rey with one hand, he lifted the other and in one swift motion, she left the life drain from fifteen lives. “And unless you want you want to join them, I’d suggest you not call me that name again.”

    He left go of Rey’s arm and walked east back into the forest. She stood there momentarily shocked and looked at Anakin who simply shook his head in disappointment and disappeared. _This is going to end in a disaster_ , she thought as she followed Kylo back into the forest.  


	2. AKA Persuasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey begins step one: making her enemy her teacher.

   After a twenty minute silent hike through the forest, both arrived to a TIE Fighter stationed in a clearing similar to the larger meadow. Rey stopped as Kylo opened up the entrance. “How did you fit fifteen stormtroopers and yourself inside this? It’s too crowded for even three.” Kylo looked at her for a moment and then spoke. 

   “Are you purposely playing dumb?” She stayed blank face and silent. An annoyed grunt came from the mask.

    “How did you land here and not know about the First Order base that's two miles away? Where is your ship anyway? Not one of the soldiers saw you enter the planet. It wasn’t until you gave up your presence that anyone had noticed you and even then, I assume that was when you arrived to that field.”

    She mused at masters decision to direct her so close to the enemy but said nothing to Kylo. She headed towards the entrance, with a sly smile. “So many questions, Be-Kylo. But I have a question for you. What exactly did you gain by killing your own solders? Killing them makes no sense. Except if-”

    “Except if you were the one to kill them and something happened that resulted in my disappearance. Do not think you have the upper hand, scavenger. I am simply going to determine what you really want before taking you to my master. But I need time to determine if you really desire training or if you're up to something. And those men will talk if I let them live. Sacrifices were made that I accept.”  Kylo closed the entrance and aggressively brushed passed her on his way to the cockpit. After a moment, she walked in and sat at the co-pilot’s seat.

   “So where are we going that you need to determine my 'true' intentions and are you seriously going to pilot with that helmet on? It’ll severely limit your vision if we meet trouble.” Kylo stopped preparing for travel and looked towards her.

   “Are you expecting trouble?” 

    “No. As far as anyone knows I’m on a journey of discovery. I’m not considered missing.” Kylo went back to flipping switches but then stopped. The mask gave an annoyed grunt and he began to unstrapped the mask. Kylo lifted it off and placed it next to his seat, without looking at Rey, went back to preparing for travel. She focused on flipping the right toggles for her position while uncomfortably aware of the long scar that covered his face. Her mark from the last time they had met. Kylo finishing putting in his coordinates into the system and in a few minutes they were in space. After double checking his work on the console, Kylo stood up and walked skeptically behind Rey’s chair. Immediately he pulled out his saber and stabbed the console inches from her seat. Rey stood and turned, saber in hand ready to block his attack. However, it seemed a moot point as he had already turned off his saber and was leaving the room. Then as an afterthought, stopped and turned back to her but looking at ground instead of her face.

"Tracker." And then turned back out of the room.

 

* * *

 

    After making sure the TIE Fighter was indeed sufficient for autopilot as Kylo had placed, Rey pressed her toggle off her saberstaff and once it folded back into itself, tied  it back to her belt. She folded her legs ground behind the pilot chairs to mediate. Leaving the room meant seeing Ben and since this craft only had the weapons room, transport room, and the cockpit- it left the cockpit as her own solace. Rey wasn’t ready to face him yet, needing to think of how exactly she was going to pretend to be what he expected.

   She used a technique that Master Luke had shown her to visualized images the Force would give; incomplete visions that belonged to no one. Luke warned her not to overthink or rely on them as a means of true guidance as they could represent the past, present, and future and even different possibility of all three. It could drive a person mad trying to determine where the images belong. But Rey developed a habit of looking at the images whenever she was troubled, not to determine what and when they belonged to but rather the messages they seemed to share. It cleared her head by allowing her to witness the actions of others. And in her own way, connected her to those she would never meet. Then she followed her Force that created webs she could mentally followed. Each web represented all of those with life; an ability Rey had been trying to perfect for the last couple years. As she sat on the ground physically, her mind followed the webs of her friends to make sure they were as well as they could be during war time. Poe and Finn seemed to be together as their web was currently tangled. She wasn't surprised, they were on a scouting mission. The others few friends at the Resistance base seemed busy. Hours past as she mediated.

   Eventually though Rey realized that she would have to eventually join Kylo. Although, truth be told, she expected him to walk in by now and start an argument over her hiding away. She wondered if maybe during the three years if he had finally had control over his temper but she didn't have high hopes. Rey stood from mediated, stretched her stiff limbs then went into the transport room finding Kylo, himself, still meditating. He sat in the center of the small room, eyes closed and facing her. He twitched, giving away that he had noticed her presence but she took the time anyway to study him. He seemed to lean out more into his body though. Tall and lanky still, but he looked more filled out. He looked more intimating than the last time she saw him and the scar only heighten the sense of not wanting to be near him. 

   “Are you done, scavenger? If you’re determined to see if I still look like a monster, I’d suggest for you to come closer.” His eyes opened and found her quickly with a neutral expression, waiting for her move.

   “Don’t come on to me, Kylo. That’s just weird.” Rey rolled her eyes but came closer anyway. There was a hint of humor in Ben's eyes she nearly missed.

   “So I’ve been told I talk first.” Kylo glared at her and she continued as if he did nothing. “I’ve disagreed with Luke and decided that the way of the Jedi does not represent my true desires. I was advised to make a journey of discovery in hopes to sway my mind but it has only made me determined to explore a different... path. I have little desire in killing needlessly or be corruptible by evil. And I’ve study the temples of Ancient ways." He nodded to her statement and she continued.

   "Both sides are opposite, sure, but the dark side was never meant for this so I won’t join the Knights of Ren or your master, Snoke. However, I’ve seen your power and decided you can teach me in what the dark side can be.” She stayed in her position but was ready for an attack in case he didn’t like her answer. The air was tense and his body language gave nothing away. Just ever-staring at her.

   After a very long moment of silence, he spoke softly with stifled annoyance. “I am only capable of teaching in the ways of my master, scavenger. To expect me to teach in your romanticized version of the dark side is naive and idiotic. Is this the best excuse you have? Snoke will kill you without a second thought if that is the only reason you have to want to study. Especially because you’re tainted with so much light, he won't believe that merger excuse. And while I won’t lose sleep in allowing you to di-”

   “You felt it, Ben.” She angrily stood up. Kylo immediately imitated her. Lightsabers from both milliseconds from activating. Rey stepped back and was reminded how small the vessel was when the wall was pressed against her back. She moved her hand away from her saber and crossed her arms.

   “Oh, will you stop it! It’s the two of us right now. You can threaten death but I’m not going to listen. We both know that. I’ve spent the last three years knowing you as Ben to suddenly just call you by another name. Put the lightsaber down and listen to me. _You. Felt. It_. You said so yourself.” They both stood in a defensively, waiting on the other for an excuse to attack. A strained minute passed before Kylo took an angry deep breath and straighten his stance. 

   “What did they tell you?” Rey relaxed and opted for the more honest approach.

   “Your mother shared a lot of your childhood. Your uncle shared a lot of your later years and your crimes. And your fath- right now that isn’t important. The point is I didn’t realized at the time, but you were talking about the an option to do become something more than a Jedi or a Knight.”

   Kylo walked the opposing wall and sat on a bolted bench. He shook his head. “I was talking about your power. And what it could become if you let me help you towards greatness. I had every intention in making you a Knight of Ren if you showed true potential.”

   Rey scoffed and stepped away from her wall. “Don’t lie to me. I might not have seen you physically for the last three years but your family weren't the only ones sharing information, you gave up a lot as well." She put an arm on the back of her neck and hesitated and continued speaking.

    "Whatever happened on Starkiller connected us. And I don’t know if you were aware of it but-” 

    “Of course, I was aware of it. I thought reaching out would have brought you out of hiding... if I allowed you to feel me. But you seemed to always be out of reach, again.” Kylo looked at her, as if this was the first time he has been honest. Rey stayed a few feet from him, unsure of what to make out of this honesty. She realized suddenly how lost he seemed, almost pathetic. But then his moment of vulnerability was over and his face became blank and hostile. He stood up.

   “However, I am not prepared to teach you with what you think you want. But since you’ve left my uncle, I’ll consider this a step in the right direction for the dark side. I’ll teach you a few lessons and if that changes your mind for the better, then we will go to Snoke with you as my apprentice. If you don’t, well, we are going to go to my master anyway. I’m sure he’d be happy to have the symbol of the Resistance and the last of the Jedis in his possessions. Stay here. We should be almost there.”

   Kylo stood up and walked to the cockpit. His face stayed neutral but he looked almost pleadingly at Rey as if hoping she would just give in to his way. Rey didn't give him, just simply nodded and walked to the bench and buckled up. She thought she free from him for a few minutes when he came back momentarily to throw a health kit in her direction for her burn. It was unnerving. As she felt the TIE Fighter begin to descend to the location, she re-wrapped her hair in her traditional three buns and settled into the bench. 


	3. AKA Lesson One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey realizes Kylo Ren has complete control.

   They arrived to a unknown watery planet. The island they landed on appeared to be a small island but Rey couldn’t be sure since. She had the spent the remainder trip tending to her burn which appeared to be already be quickly healing. As she stepped out of the ship, she was met with sea salt air and took a healthy breath of it. It reminded her of her training with Master Luke and the days she spent on the beach meditating _._ Rey noticed Kylo stood awkwardly outside of the TIE Fighter looking at his helmet in his hand as if debating about putting it on or leaving it at the ship. She tighten the strap on her lightsaber, walked off the ship with as much courage as she could muster and made the decision for him.

   “Leave it or I won’t take you serious with it on. Though I can’t promise I won’t hesitate to add another scar to your face.” Kylo threw her a look and walked back into the fighter and came back empty handed a few minutes later with a scowl on his face.

   “If you want me to teach you so badly, I’d suggest you treat me like a master before I make you learn respect.” Kylo walked passed her and headed into a barely visible path between large plants and trees. Rey followed after him silently but amused by his temper. 

    After a short walk the path opened up to a small cove surrounded by cliffs. There appeared to be a concealed small cave hiding behind some greenery. The cove wasn't large and couldn’t be more than fifty yards. If she wasn't aware of Kylo staring at her, Rey would have rushed over to the water and swim. Instead she stood at the path’s entrance to wait for Kylo to tell her where to go, determinedly not looking at the water. He rolled his eyes.

   “Three years and you still can’t control your emotions. I will be back. If you feel the need to go into the water, you have some time before I return. I will start the first lesson when I come back. And, scavenger? I’d suggest you start preparing for it- it’s not like _his_ lessons. We won’t be starting with meditation and moving pebbles.” Kylo walked into the cave she had spotted earlier.

   Rey sighed and stood at the edge of the trees until she could no longer feel his presence. Her pride and stubbornness prevented her from running up to the waves but she did allow herself the joy of allowing the waves brush up to her toes. She stood there for a few minutes waiting in case Kylo came back, once it appeared he was indeed gone, she stripped her layers off until all she had was her binding over her breasts and the last layer of half-trousers that stopped before her knees. She sat in the dry sand where the sun's rays still touched and closed her eyes. Quicker than she anticipated Anakin Skywalker was standing next to her.

   “Rey of Jakku” 

   “Master…”

   “Excuse me, _Just Rey_ , my mistake." He looked down. "I see you are mostly naked and my grandson is nowhere.” Anakin chuckled and stared out to the small view of the ocean the cove showed. Rey only opened her eyes and peered at him.

   “You act like you are not aware of the Force and what occurs throughout of the galaxy.” Anakin kept his smile.

   “You got me there, child. What is it that concerns you? I have updated Luke on your success of not getting killed yet.” Rey watched a wave come near and then dribble back.

   “It concerns me how easily he has been about this. This isn’t the behavior of Kylo Ren. I expected it to be harder, to fight me more, but he's been pretty placate about all of this. I doubt my expression for joining the Dark side was strong enough for persuasion." She looked at her palms and placed them over the warm sand on either side of her. She studying the foam formed from the turmoil of the ocean, as if this stretch of water would answers her concerns.

   "Master Luke had even said it would take a miracle for him to believe me. So why is he entertaining my 'desire'?” Anakin sat next to her.

   “Rey, you have improved greatly in the last three years. Frankly, in ways I was never able to master. Which says a lot as I was the Lord of the Siths and a child of the midichloria. However, while you have adapted quickly in the ways of fighting and using the Force, you still lack understanding people and their complexity. I do not fault you on that as growing up on Jakku would harden even the softest person. While I do not encourage you to trust in Ben, perhaps rather than showing him a wall of sarcasm, you attempt to treat him as you do to your friends at the base. He needs to trust you just as you just us. 

   “While you have been training and fighting for the Resistance, think of what he has done on his own side. It has not been a coincidence that you two have not meet on the battlefield… Now, my dear, I may not be able to feel the water, but I can tell the water is warm. Who knows when will be the next time you have the opportunity to swim. And I believe you have sometime yet to yourself, do not waste all this time with an old man.” Rey smiled.

   “Master, you barely look a day over thirty.” But the comment reached no ears beside hers, Anakin had faded back into the Force. She spent an thirty minutes meditating while mulling over images shown to her but as they continued to make no sense and she grew frustrated. Without realizing it, the waves had slowly reached her and now every few moment a wave splashed her. Rey stood up and stretched her stiff muscles and then ran right into the ocean. Joy radiating from her as she drenched herself with salt water.  

* * *

 

   Two hours passed, the sun while still in the sky was no longer providing direct light into the cove due to the cliffs causing it to appeared almost as dark as a dusk would normally be. Rey was floating well into the ocean and was semi-conscious, only barely aware of the water moving around her while fish hesitantly swam underneath her. Then without a chance to grab a breath she was pulled underneath the water. Rey thrashed about trying to reach the top while attempting to kick whoever had pulled her under mid-panic she realized nothing was physically holding her but rather the Force. Struggling to get air and her vision already starting to fade, she struggled remained calm. But logic failed to reach her and instead pulled further down into the ocean. She was running out of air fast.

  She made a last ditch attempt to save herself by using the Force, finally dawning on to use her strengths. Rey attempted to manipulating the water to push her up as well push the water on top of her out of air and barely made it to the top before it felt her lungs would explode. She gasped the precious air focusing on keeping herself afloat while catching her breath, no longer feeling as if something was forcing her down. She went to swim to shore but realized she was standing on the water, not above it but rather inside protected by a round half bubble that prevented water into rushing onto her. Her feet was touching the bottom and she tentatively moved a foot, the invisible layer followed her. Rey looked up to find Kylo Ren on the beach looking curiously at her and then she realized who had tried to drown her. She sprinted full force towards him.

   Twenty feet became fifteen feet becoming ten until Rey screamed and raised her fist to attack Kylo. She made contact with his blocked arm and the bubble disperse and water rushed into their fight. His face stayed neutral but he was clearly interested in her tactics. He grabbed Rey’s right arm to flip her into the water but Rey parried and switched her focus to punch Kylo's face. As if anticipating this attack, Kylo moved to his left and ducked but didn't realize it was a false attack until Rey had already kicking with full force into his chest. Her foot landed on his abdominal and he fell back a few steps, taking a large gasp of air. Using the force while his guard was down, Rey pushed him further into the sand. Kylo barely able to keep his footing looked up at Rey angrily. _So we’re going to play that way?_

   Kylo stomped into the sand for balance and lifted his arms causing the water to rise near Rey and she quickly darted into shallower water by pushing water out of way. Rey looked at him confused. _This is you playing?!_ She stood a few feet from Kylo now, trying grab gasps of air as she still hadn't caught on air still positioned ready for defense against.

   Kylo put his arms down and stood out of attack position. Suddenly with a husky laugh, he responded.

   “No. It is not.” And walked towards a small pile of supplies near the cave, done with the fight.

   “Excuse me, you just tried to drown me! You can’t just walk away!” Rey stormed to Kylo who just carried on walking as if she wasn't next to him. When he arrived to the heap and looked at her.

   “Scavenger, I warned you. And you left yourself vulnerable with me.” He gave her an unusual look and she realized half a second later how exposed and little she was wearing. Rey refused to lower her eyes, challenging him if this was his attempt in trying to shame her. But then she realized he was wearing nothing more than a layer of pants. His chest bare but littered with scars. She lingered at the thought of he had physically improved and then just as quickly moved on.

  His staring just became more intense and she finally spoke, “you’re well aware by now that my name is Rey. I’m not a scavenger anymore.” He huffed and turned back around towards the pile.

  “I’ll start calling you that name when you start honoring my name.” Rey stared at the back of his head, hoping to see him spontaneous combust, sighed and gave in.

   “You have a point.” She walked up to next to him and looked into the pile. “So what is the purpose of this?” She recognized a bag as a tent, a small wooden box labeled 'perishable', and a knapsack that spilled out what look like a black sleeve.

    “You can’t stay in the cave. You reek too much of light and will destroy you if you try walking into it, let alone stay in it. So you’ll stay outside. Which is good because there are creatures on this island you’ll have to defend against at night. It'll build character as well as making you end life. You’re what? Directly responsible for less than a dozen deaths. You keep sparing my men and one day they’ll pull the trigger when you’re not paying attention. Oh wait, that just happened.” He reached into the pile to grabbed the tent. She ignored his jabbed.

    “It’s not up to me to decide who to kill. And those men were taken from their families like Finn, thanks your First Order. I can’t rationalize destroying a life that has already been destroyed by you and your friends.” She reached into the bag with the black sleeve and pulled out a long  black robe that looked eerily close to her size.

   “Those fifteen men who accompanied me on Takodana were survivors of your raids who did not hesitate to sign up when I requested assistance to take you down. FN-2187 is simply an outlier. And if you had killed them, perhaps one of them wouldn’t have been so eager for revenge." He looked up and saw her holding a cloack. "And before you start arguing, that robe is indeed for you. I’ve had it prepared for you since Starkiller. Although I wouldn’t wear it here. It’s a bit warm. Don't bother looking for your other outfit, it 'mysteriously' disappeared.” Kylo placed the bag with the tent on the ground and reached into a second bag.

   “This one is similar enough to what you seem to prefer. Flexible cloth to allow you to fight while keeping your arms bare. And your blue outfit is gone. It seems you expected me not to destroy those as first opportunity.” Kylo Ren looked at Rey again and handed her the bag. She begrudgingly took it as she wasn’t about to continue being so bare around him. He picked up the tent and started walking towards the wooded area.

   “And Rey?” Kylo bellowed as he continued walking. She turned around at the surprised use of her name.

   “If you’re trying so hard to persuade me that you really want to join the dark side, I wouldn’t admit to such Jedi-like principles. But good job with using the Force with water, you’re almost at what a six year old can do.”

Rey almost groaned out loud at her slip up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rey's still has the plan in place, but I've been wanting to create real diminsion between them before having Character A say "hey lets do this" and then somehow Character B says "sure, why the fuck not?" Can't just have them go OOC, eh?


	4. AKA No Turning Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey is presented an opportunity to look at Kylo Ren in a different way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be aware of applied rape. And 'graphic' description of death.

   Rey walked out of the trees wearing the black attire Kylo Ren had brought from the cave that unfortunately fit her decently well. She was adjusting the various straps and tying her lightsaber to her belt as she walked back on the beach. Rey noticed Kylo still hadn’t put on a top and was on his knees in the sand with spread out various pieces with one of the tent mats haphazardly thrown a good ten feet away. She stood near the thrown mat watching him struggle in putting two thin pieces together.

   “You’re trying to put the front edge piece with a back piece.”

   Kylo looked up from his attempt and scoff. “You put it together then. It’s been sitting in the cave for who knows how long- I wouldn’t be surprised if some pieces are missing. I’ll just go… get some wood. It’s getting dark anyway.”

   He wiped the sand from his hands across his pants and muttered to himself as he walked right into the area Rey had just come from. She picked up the tent mat and walked over to the scatter pieces and took over his process.

 

   Rey was putting the tarp over the finished tent as Kylo emerged from the trees with timber in hand. He dropped the wood nearby and started stacking for a small fire. Kylo suddenly spoke and pointed to the now smaller pile, “Grab some food and a pot from the box”

   She was tempted to make him say please but she’s already failed to seem like an eager student so she opted for a simple nod and went to the pile. Lifting the lid she saw the second largest pile of food. They were marked in silver bags as a universal sign of requiring some form of liquid to revitalize. She smiled as she remembered the pile Finn keeps in his room. She, like Finn, understood hunger and would have easily done the same thing if she stayed anywhere long enough she called home to leave food at. She grabbed three random bags of food and the pot half buried in the box. On the way back she pulled off two palm tree leaves for makeshift plates. Kylo had a fire growing and was watching it intently as if this fire was the most important object in the galaxy.

   Rey broke the silence, “do you have a stash of fresh water for the food?” Kylo looked up at her with a troubled look. He stood up and half grabbed the pot from her.

   “There’s a running stream in the cave. Stay here.”

   “Wait, if I can’t go in this cave, how do we know the water won’t harm me?”

   Kylo waved his hand in an indifference. “Who knows?” he yelled.

   Rey was tending to the fire, briefly looking into the Force for any signs of her friends' well-being. And then suddenly she wasn’t sitting next to the fire or next to the ocean.

_The air was mixed with ash and burnt flesh, a cry echoed in the background. Rey stood in the middle of a burnt down village, an active fire was no longer wild but by no means contained. She looked around and her vision frayed, showing the telltale sign that this was a vision but whether it was the past or future she couldn’t tell. To her left, a child laid in an awkward position that stared beyond Rey, not moving. She took a hesitant step to the child but saw no signs of breathing. The cry from somewhere else increased in despair and grabbed Rey’s full attention. She rushed in between burnt down homes, passing corpse of various states of destruction and decay. The cry was becoming more hysteric, more desperate, she ran faster. Finally she reached the source of the cry inside a destroyed hut where a little black boy no more than the age of six was surrounded by four female bodies. Rey saw one of females had attempted to wrap herself around the child only inches away from successfully touching him. The female was littered with blaster burns. She looked away from the body and saw a stormtrooper standing a few feets away from the crying child, lifting his gun to quiet the boy._

_Rey yelled and bolted to the stormtrooper but before the trooper had a chance to pull the trigger he was lifted up into the air. She could hear the stormtrooper gasping for air through his mask, she looked around and saw Kylo Ren at the hut's broken doorway_ _. The child was now crying even harder, the stormtrooper losing consciousness, and Rey was utterly sure somehow he would know she was there. He tossed the stormtrooper into a wall nearby and then walked over to the soldier who was now catching for air. And then looked at the child._

_“SILENCE BOY.” The child suddenly stopped crying, with only giving the sounds of hiccups, staring at the man in black with fear. Rey stepped closer to the child, attempting to block him from his treat when she noticed looked vaguely familiar. Kylo was already crouching down to the stormtrooper. “Why are you not at your post? This was not your area. Your job was to search for our subject in area thirty-two.”_

_The stormtrooper attempted to making himself smaller, while perhaps unconsciously covering his uniform pants that looked as if they were rushed on. A gesture Kylo nor Rey did not miss. He looked at the child then to the female nearest to him and the three other brutally dead females. All of which their lower clothes were unceremonious missing._

_“You didn’t." It wasn't a question._

_“Sir, they’re rebel sympathizers. I simply-” That was all the stormtrooper managed to say before a lightsaber was rammed into his chest. It was utter silence except for the child’s increased hiccups. Rey stayed in front of the child despite knowing she couldn’t do anything. Kylo Ren stood up and took off his helmet, and placed it in his hand. He turned to the child but  for a brief moment seemed to made eye contact with Rey. Frighten that somehow she wasn’t just witnessing the vision and was truly there, she stood straighter to block him from the boy. But he immediately looked through her and approached the child, oddly though he moved to the left and around Rey and bent down._

_“I can take away your memories of this but in return you must grow up strong and willing to fight. Do you want that?” The child looked at Kylo whose face barely looked beyond his twenties, not yet able to truly master the neutral expression and then the boy looked at the dead female who was so close to reaching him but so far away._

_The boy nodded and whispered, “My name is-” but Kylo already waved his hand and the child was unconscious. He touched his index finger to the child’s forehead and laid the child on the ground. Kylo walked back to the dead stormtrooper and placed his helmet back on. Suddenly two stormtroopers arrived to the charred doorway. One of them spoke._

_“Sir, we cannot locate FN-2187. He seemed to-” He fell silent as he took in the dead stormtrooper near Kylo Ren._

_“Yes, I found him. I also found a replacement. Pick up the child and take him to LT. Phasma. She’d be happy to have a blank slate to train.” The storm trooper walked over to the unconscious child…_

   And Rey was back in front of the fire, with the sea salt air breezing through her air, and the chill of the darkness to greet her. She felt as if tears had been flowing from her eyes. Kylo Ren, who was back wearing his normal black outfit, and was currently picking at his food across the fire, looking only at the leaf. It was too much for her and she disorientated ran to the closest  tree and spewed what little food she had in her stomach. Kylo nonchalantly continued eating.

   A few minutes later, she walked back to her mat and just stared at the fire.

   “I figured you’d be used to visions by now. Considering I’ve seen you twice now manipulate the Force for images. An unusual use, I noticed. Plus, you left yourself vulnerable as well. Who knows what could have happened if we weren’t currently in a truce?” He got up, stretched, and poured food from the pot into the second palm leaf and placed it on her lap.

   “Eat.”

   “I can’t.”

   “You can. You will. You serve no purpose for me if you don’t eat.” Rey looked from the flames to Kylo. She closed her eyes instead and searched for Finn’s web, determined to make sure he was okay.

   “Don’t.” She opened her eyes again, annoyed.

   “You don’t know what I was doing.”

   “I don’t really care what you were doing. But you were just in a trance for the last hour and you’re exhausted. Don’t be stupid.” Kylo sat down aggressively on his own mat and stared at her. And then angrily sighed. “What did you see?”

    Rey took a bite and couldn’t taste anything. She looked down towards the ocean, the sky already well into the night. She could feel his eyes on her.

   “I saw you being kind.”


	5. AKA Legacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which way too much talking occurs.

   If Rey wasn’t already feeling a headache forming from everything that just happened the sudden burst of laughter from Kylo Ren would certainly do it. She groaned at his reaction, hoping his bellows would quiet down. Her hand was rubbing her temple.

    When Kylo finally stopped laughing, he grabbed a metallic canteen from a small bag next to his mat and unexpectedly tossed it to Rey. 

    “Here. You look like you need water. The vision took more energy than I thought.” She sniffed the canteen for any obvious signs of poison and once she was sure it saw Rey down the entire contents. Kylo rolled his eyes at her uncivilized manners.

    “And I’m not kind. Remember, destroyer of worlds? Killer of the great Han Solo. Murderer of Luke’s Jedis-in-training. Tried to murder your traitorous friend and yourself, is any of this ringing any bells?” Rey looked at the now empty canteen, refusing to look at him. His sarcasm was dripping with warnings to not go further but Rey wasn't known to shy away from danger.

    “You saved my friend.

    “Maybe not as graceful or as heroic as a Jedi would have done. But you saved him in the only way you could.” That shut Kylo up. Rey finally had the courage to looked up and find him once again studying her with a harden look. His voice was almost inaudible.

   “So that’s what you saw.”

   “Yes," she whispered. She was stuck staring at his scar filled face right into his brown eyes. She was lingering between listening to her belief that he couldn’t possibly be the same man who saved Finn or believing that maybe both Master Luke and Anakin had a point in his redemption. During her inner conflict, Kylo was the first to break eye contact. He shifted and laid down, looking at the stars with his arms folded behind his head. As though there wasn’t a sudden thickness of awkwardness between the two of them.

   She continued to gaze at him, not really seeing him as Kylo Ren or Ben Solo but definitely in a new perspective that challenged her morals and her perspective. Master Luke had constantly strive to lecture her that the world wasn’t simply black and white; that nothing was truly right versus wrong. But Rey disagreed. That approached only complicated life. Everything had a consequence; if you committed a crime- you have to pay for it, regardless of whatever excuse you gave. And now, Kylo Ren- no, Ben Solo- no,  maybe even a combination of the two, was showing a person could do such terrible sins, but still somehow carry light too.

   “I can’t be saved, Rey.” His statement brought her out of her thoughts and she looked away.

   “I never said you could be. You started down this path when you murdered your classmates.” Kylo stiffened and then stretched out his left arm, reaching for the stars

   “What does the Force tell you when you meditate?”

   Rey looked back to him. She studied the outline of his face, darken from the night but the flames from the fire ever-determined to show him in light. A piece of timber collapsed and embers danced into the air. 

   “That there has to be balance.”

   “The force has been saying that for eons. What does the Force really tell you?” Rey picked up a stray stick and push wood around the flames.

   “If we continue down this path, we will fight. And I will kill you.” Kylo sat up. Rey looked away from the fire and at Kylo. He sighed and grabbed a similar canteen from his bag and took a swig.

   “Who are you?” he finally asked. She waited. She waited until the silence became too unbearable. And then she waited until she felt she might implode if she doesn’t share the  one piece of truth she knows of herself.

   “I am no one.” Rey felt his eyes press into her but she already looked away.

   “I’d suggest you become someone. I don’t want to be killed by some person who quickly becomes lost in the history of time. That’s as terrible as the story of some great bounty hunter being killed by a sand creature.”

   She stood up, appalled and quite ready to just go to bed. She kicked sand into the dying fire and started stomping up to Kylo who now had a very annoyed expression.  “How can you be so calm about this? This is your life we’re talking about! You’ve helped create an unbalance in the force but that doesn’t make your life any less important. The way you’re acting is like you feel you deserve...oh.

    “So you want the cowards way out of this? The small redemption that only a few people would truly understand? You want to go the same way your grandfather went? What the hell, Kylo?! That isn’t what he wants!” Kylo stood up against Rey, inches apart from her.

    “And what do you know what he wants?!” he screamed at her.

    She practically matched his volume, “because he told me as much!”

     “I very much doubt it! …considering you even label yourself as a no one- why would he even talk to you.” He moved to where there was absolutely no space between them. Rey kept her head as leveled as she could without having to apart to need to look up.

     Her response was slow and quiet. “Because you won’t listen to him.”

     It was apparently the wrong thing as his face scrunched up in anger, seconds from physically attacking her. She stepped back and lifted her arm. Using the anger and shame that despite repeatedly telling Master Anakin that there was absolutely no reason to be taught this dark technique that only leads to death, she watched as the Force lifted Kylo Ren from the ground. Feeling his suffocation was nauseating, there was no sick pleasure from this. Her stomach already threatening to return the food she just nibbled on. And she wondered if this was why Master Anakin was so adamant into teaching her his legacy of the Force- as if this was the only way his grandson would believe her.

     And then she dropped him, ungracefully and painfully. Kylo wheezing for air and slowly trying to get up and strike back. In response, Rey fell to her knees, crying from not only having cause direct pain but from feeling the agony and pain from Kylo himself. She was tired and she was done.

     “I don’t want to kill you. I just want to save the galaxy.”

      Kylo staggered up to his legs. His breathing already returning to normal and flinching when she started to cry out, as if years of holding back had finally came back to haunt her. He took off his outerwear jacket and shakily walked the few steps to her. She had curled into her knees and Kylo wrapped her in the jacket. He didn’t touch her, didn’t try to comfort her beyond covering her in his jacket. Just quietly sat next to her as she slowly stopped crying. Minutes passed and she lifted her head from her knees and looked at Kylo trying to figure when he had placed his coat over her. But he just looked into the woodland. Time passed as she sat next to Kylo lost in thought.

     He spoke suddenly and softly, “then I guess we’re going to have to figure out a plan to accomplish that.”


	6. AKA Balance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a father makes a visit.

   Rey felt the chilly breeze pass through her now disheveled hair. Exhaustion continued to creep on her. She stood up and shed Kylo Ren's coat off herself, placing it on his knees but he unexpectedly reached for it causing their hands to briefly touched, both awkwardly moved their hands away. Rey stepped away, refusing to meet his eyes.

   “I’m going to bed. I think the only plan we should really focus on is if you teach me the ways of the Dark side… master.” She started to walking to the small tent.

   His voice traveled with a breeze, faint and quiet. “As you wish.” 

   She entered the small tent and laid over the thin mat. Rey could hear movement outside of what was probably Kylo putting out what was left of the fire and then him walking towards the cave. A few minutes passed and silent engulfed the cove. She closed her eyes and took slow, drawn out breaths, following Finn's web, whose webbing was deeply entwined with Poe, when sleep finally overtook her.

_Rey stood in the middle of the ocean. Her feet was on top of the water as if there was a clear flexible platform preventing her into falling into the sea. Whereas earlier she was inside the water, now she was simply on top of the current. She gave a frustrated cry._

_"I can’t even have a few hours of rest?" A large jet black sea creature moved below her._

_"I know, kid.” Rey looked around and saw no one but recognized the scruff of that voice._

_“Han, don’t play games with me. I thought you were done playing with the Force like this. Don’t think I haven’t forgotten the first year of you messing with my meditation because, and I quote, ‘come on, kid, what’s the point of still being here, if I can prank Luke’s prodigy’. I want to sleep! Go pester Leia.” Suddenly Han Solo was across from her. The smug expression there as always._

_“I would but Leia is busy but don't worry, I checked on your friends for you, they're fine. Last time I checked the two boys came back safely from their mission. I just wanted to check on… my own boy.” Han’s face went sober while he studied the same black sea creature doing figure eights underneath them._

_“You didn’t see?” He shifted uncomfortably and then his smug persona was back._

_“Nah, I’m not Leia’s father or her brother. I can only pay attention to one place at once. And I don’t need to confuse the boy by showing up out of the blue. He might stab me again.” He chucked and Rey rolled her eyes._

_“You’re the only person that finds it funny._

_“But he’s still alive. I don’t understand what’s going on with him though. There’s still a lot_ _of obvious darkness in him, but...” Rey lowered her voice, “I guess even you can be right, he shows some light in him as well.” Han placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezed, and looked at Rey._

 _“Almost like the last two years of argument was pointless then.” He laughed."_ _Is the plan still in place?”_

_Rey fidgeted. “Even if my views have shifted, I don’t think it’s going to work. Han, you’re still going to be dead. Why hold a stake in this? Nothing I can do will save you.” She shifted her shoulder away from his hand and stepped back, her face looking back down. She watched as the sea creature had grabbed the attention of a smaller pale color version of itself._

_“I’ve ran away from responsibility all my life and because of that, I’ve failed those I love deeply. If my death is constant, no matter what we do, I accept that. It’s a consequence I’m willing to greet warmly. I want my son to find peace and even happiness if he allows it. And the same for you, as you’re basically a daughter I never had.” Rey’s face turned red and continued to watch the two sea creatures now nestled together, as if nothing else existed in the galaxy._

_“I will do my best. But if it’s up to you, I could really the sleep.” Han raised his arms in defense._

_“Sure, kid. No more visions. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this but you’re not alone. And make sure you check on Chewie for me soon.” Han walked away, fading with every step._

_Suddenly Rey fell through the ocean, sinking towards the sea bed. Her arms reached for the water’s edge but her struggle only resulted in her going deeper into the sea. She stopped struggling and waited. Refusing to panic as she had done earlier. Suddenly the two sea creatures were in front of her. The larger dark colored creature looked at her with wonder. The smaller pale creature wailed from loneliness in which prompted the large one to swim back to its partner. It nuzzled its face and Rey watched them swam together chasing each other into a circle, increasing into speed until Rey couldn’t tell where they ended and where they begun, as if they reached a balance between light and dark._

_Everything faded._

   Rey adjusted in her sleep and did not wake.

 

* * *

 

   Dawn broke and Rey awoke to the sound of the pitter patter of rain hitting her tent. She opened the tent and saw the beach untouched except by the gentle marks of raindrop. Rey sat down outside of her tent and let the drizzle hit her as she fixed her hair in her traditional buns and folded her legs. Closing her eyes, she easily fell into a mediated state, aware of the waves crashing into the shore and each droplet splattering onto her skin. She vaguely felt his presence a few minutes into mediating.

   She stayed like that for an hour before she hear the sounds of steps approaching her. 

   “You’re drenched.” Rey smiled and looked at Kylo. His hair soaked and his clothes not much better. She couldn’t help but chuckled.

   “You’re not doing much better, Kylo.” He grunted and stood in front of her.

   “I was trying to wait until you finished so I wouldn’t have to watch you do it later during lessons… but you took too long and we need to start moving.” He moved his hand in front of her to help her up and then thought better of it. Rey ignore the attempt and got up herself, wiping the sand off her hands.

   “Where are we going?”

   “It’s raining. And I don’t do rain. You’re obviously not capable of going into the cave unless you want to experience true pain.” He handed her a knapsack.

    “I mean, I handle it’s water well enough. How do we know it will hurt me?” Kylo looked at her and then started walking into a small path through the plantation.

    “I was taught here. And I’ve seen it happen. Do not argue with me, Rey.” She ran to catch up.

    “Wait, you were trained here!? But it’s so nice and, well, the weather has been decent.”

    “Rey, erase everything opinion and prejudice you have against the Dark side.” She made a grunt as she climbed over a fallen tree.

     “No, I’m serious. You talk about finding balance but you seem to think your side doesn’t create false illusions. We embrace all emotions, including those perceived to be negative: rage, fear, aggression ...desire. There is no limitation placed on oneself.

     “My grandfather understood this. He spent the better part of his youth and his young adulthood dedicating himself to be a Jedi and fell from the ‘good graces of the light’ for the darkness. ”

    “Your grandfather was lied to and tricked into becoming a Sith Lord.”

    “Semantics. If it makes you feel better, think that way. But he spent almost twenty years as Darth Vader, if he truly did not want to join the dark side- such reasons would not have kept him there. You’re expecting absolutism when there is none. My random act of kindness is no different than a good man committing a crime. We each carry regret and shame. To expect people to not feel those and other emotions continue to be the downfall to the Jedi way.”

     “So just kill them anyway?”

    “Watch yourself. I did as I was instructed.”

     Silence reached over the two as they started on an incline up a small mountain; palm trees slowly being replaced by thick evergreens. The rain was hardly passing through all the branches. There was only the sound of rain drops hitting leaves and breathing from the two.

    An hour pass and the two reached a peak. The rain was dispersing and most of the sky was cleared excluding a few large clouds. Rey stepped out into a clearing and looked out onto the island. It was definitely a small isle. If she squinted she could even see the Tie fighter in an opening. In fact, the whole area did not seem larger than seven miles in length. She turned back to Kylo studying her.

    “Come. There’s a cave right here for us to begin. If this is the path you’re choosing, we have, at maximum, two days before my master truly starts looking for us. He’s already been trying to contact me. And I’d rather us go to him than others taking us to him.”

    She stood near the rocks that overlooked the island for a moment, letting the breeze move pass her. Turning back at Kylo she noticed his dark black hair a bit wild from the hike and rain, the scar covering most of his face more prominent from the exertion.

    “You’re telling me that this path isn’t marked, yet? A decision was made before I even existed. So even if I wanted to, I can’t very well leave you here. Well, I could. I can even see the TIE Fighter, it’ll come down to who can run faster. But then we’re back at square one, yeah? And we’ll meet at the battlefield and fight. And we’ll continue this over and over again until someone wins. And we both know, I will eventually win; the Force has said as much.” Rey dropped her knapsack.

   “You, Kylo Ren, are seriously trying to imply I have a true choice.” He gave no emotions up, his face masked in neutrality. Rey walk up to him, looking straight into his brown eyes.

   “I don't remember you being so emotional. I'd rather you not start crying again." She gave him a deadly glare and he continued, unfazed. "You always have a choice.”

   “Oh, don’t even.” She stomped away, right back to the knapsack. She stared into the ocean that seemed to swallowing the island.

   “You can go back. We can easily say we fought and separated as soon as we could. You can even join me which means joining the First Order.

    “Or…” Rey waited. Kylo stared right at her, as if this was the last chance to take her all in.

    “Or we used the next two days and start working on the plan they sent you on. Rey. You have a choice. All you’re trying to do is delay the inevitable of making one. Whether to do what is already determined is still a choice.” She looked away.

    “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she whispered. It only took three steps for Kylo to tower over her.

    “Don’t lie to me. You may have had help blocking me for the last three years but I feel what you feel. I _know_ what you feel. What happened on Starkiller opened something between us, a Force Bond. You know this. You felt what happened last night when you choked me. Lying to me is just lying to yourself and I won’t have it.”

    “What choice do you want?”

    “All choices lead to my death.”

   “Kylo.”

    He laid his hand on her shoulder and she flinched. He removed his hand immediately but did not step away. Rey sighed.

   “What if we fail?”

   “Then the Force will try again with a new generation.”

   “It’s a stretch.”

   “It’s a plan created by my uncle, nothing he does is simple.”

   “We had help beyond Luke.”

   “If my mother was involved then there’s probably a need to go inside a structure and only have moments to escape.”

   She picked up the knapsack.

   “It was more like a Skywalker/Solo and Rey team effort.” Kylo Ren radiated fear and shame.

   "What?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for such positive comments! :)


	7. AKA Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey gives Kylo Ren a headache and a piece of the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10 points to the reader who finds the title in the text. (Hint: it's in english)

   “Rey.” The two were sitting on separate drying boulders near the cave’s entrance, eating from silver packets for their meal.

   “I’m not kidding. I can’t trust you any further than I can Force throw you. Why would I divulge everything about this plan? You could use it against me or try to go through my mind for it.”

   “Yes, I could. But I’m not now am I? Hurry up and finish. We need to still need to go into the cave. It'll still give you the opportunity to learn beyond absolutism.” Rey chewed the mush and mulled over his words.

   “I don’t understand.”

   “Clearly.”

   “No. I mean, I don’t understand you. Three years ago you were tall, dark, and broody, with a tantrum that challenges a three year old. A day ago you killed fifteen men like nothing. And right now you’re eating food with me trying to hear about a plan that destroys everything you’ve sacrificed for. For three years we didn’t meet on the battlefield. I didn’t think anything of it until recently but it doesn’t make sense. I may have stopped you from reaching out for me, but us not meeting wasn't my doing. What's your deal?”

   She looked at Kylo who was picking at his packet.

    “It’s complicated and I can’t explain the details and even if I tried, you wouldn’t believe me. Even if I wasted the two days explaining it. Just take my word on it. You asked me earlier what choice I wanted. Well, someone persuaded me to think of a different outcome and I made my decision years ago to follow a person to the stars. And it wasn't time for us to meet- battlefield or not.”

   “Snoke?” Kylo let out a laugh.

   “You’re always so- No, obviously not, Rey.”

   “This did not clear anything up.”

   “I know. You want trust but you haven’t provided anything for me to trust you. And I won't be sharing my own secrets for naught.”

   “I haven’t killed you.”

   “I can say the same thing.”

   “How do I trust you not to betray me? You killed your own father.” Kylo flinched.

   “We’re not going to reach a middle ground. Just start with step one and we’ll go from there.” Rey stood from her rock, facing Kylo as he stared at his silver packet.

   “Step one, get ‘my nephew’ away from the First Resistance.” Kylo shoved his empty packet into his bag.

   “Walked right into that one.”

   “Step two, find a chance for redemption. If not, leave and continue without him.” He stood up from his own rock.

   “Well?”

    “I’ll kill you without mercy if I feel you double crossing me.”

    “That’s the spirit. Embrace the dark side.”

   “It’s no different that Obi Wan Kenobi trying to kill your grandfather.” Kylo rolled his eyes and walked into the cave’s entrance.

   “Step three?” Rey followed him, walking into the darkness.

   “How familiar are you to ancient teachings? Specifically in teachings determined to be lost forever?” They walked twenty feet into the cave, reaching to the point where no outside light touched. Kylo touched the cave’s wall and suddenly a light blue light streak followed down the cave.

   “Scavenger, how would I possibly know about something that’s lost?” Rey was more entranced by the unexpected light source and was no longer listening. She inspected the wall closely and saw nothing unusual about source and cause of the light. Kylo watched her and sighed.

   “Let me see your hand.” That brought Rey out of her thoughts.  

   “Excuse me, what?”

   “Your skin will not boil by my touch. Just humor me.” He walked the two steps to the other wall. Rey hesitantly followed him.

   “Hand.” She lifted her hand. Kylo gripped her fingers and placed them on the cool wall. His palm covered her whole hand.

    “They’re crystals embedded into the stones. A force user had to come through these walls and nurture their growth to follow the cavern, it must have taken years to do it. Just think of ‘light’ and it’ll create a chain reactions with the crystals.” Rey closed her eyes, focusing on the contrast of cool wall and his warm hand, visualizing the warmth and light that comes from it. She didn’t need to open her eyes to feel the glow of blue light. Kylo let go of her hand and she felt the cool air overtake the warmth.

   “Right. Let’s go on. How did you find something that which has been lost on purpose?” He followed the light and his steps echoed down the natural hall. Rey removed her hand from the wall and trailed him.

   “I guess, the same way I learned your grandfather’s techniques. By the master herself.”

   “Yeah, I’m still waiting for the explanation that my grandfather would show himself to you and not- wait, go back. There are no female masters alive right now.” Kylo stopped walking and turned around, his abrupt stop cause Rey to almost collide in his chest.

   “Yes.” The light only showed the barest trace of his face, his eyes giving a slight reflection for Rey to look at.

   “And there hasn’t been one or much of one since at least grandfather’s time.”

   “Please, take longer in putting the pieces together.”

   “Rey. I was a bit busy during Jedi history lessons. If you’re expecting me to pull a name out of- how long ago did she die? No, ancient… master…” Kylo lifted his hand to his chin, mumbling to himself. Rey opted to watch him work out as he proceeded to do the exact mannerism as Master Luke when she explain it to him.

   “Scavenger?”

   “Ben?” His eyebrows burrowed.  

   “Since when are the dead able to last as individuals in the Force longer than a century? Even the strongest of Force users join the galaxy eventually.” She grinned.

   “When did I ever say she was dead?” Kylo managed to grunt out a of frustration and confusion but Rey just kept smiling.

   “Don’t toy with me. We’re in the middle of a cavern and I can easily cause a cave in and leave you to wander through these caverns until you die.” He stepped closer to Rey but she just grinned harder.

   “You leave me to die and you’ll feel it.”

   “Don’t get cocky with me.”

   “I’m in a dark cave with you, in middle of an island, surrounded by water. My friends are galaxies away fighting a war that’s at a standstill.  If I had known this information would put you in a spin, I’d bring it up sooner.”

   “Rey.”

   “I don’t know _when_ exactly she was from. But she came to me two years ago with a determination to teach me something she felt no one else could be trusted with and well, the Force guided her to me as well, apparently. I guess a combination of the both.” Kylo stepped away from Rey. And started to pace between the four feet distance from wall to wall, mumbling.

   “It doesn’t exist.

   “It obviously can’t exist.

   “The force can’t do that.

   “It doesn’t exist.

   “It _shouldn’t_ exist.” A conclusion reached, he stopped his pace next to a wall and looked at Rey. She waved her arm as a warning.

    “She’s a timewalker.  The Force is literally the manipulation of matter through midichlorian. We use hyperdrive to wormhole through space. You really think it couldn’t be done? She's the only one with the knowledge. That is, until she passed it to me. Don’t give me that look. Not even Snoke could peer into my mind and find it. She made sure of it.”

   “No, absolutely not. You can’t.”

    “I can, I will. You can either continue taking me down the cavern and I explain what I’m going to do and what I need from you or not. Your choice. What would your friend, you claim you'd do anything for, say?”

   Kylo Ren rubbed his forehead and pressed his head onto the wall for what was about to be a huge headache forming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know time travel always seems like a cop out with story telling, but I swear, I do have decent plot prepared for it!  
> No wham bam problem solved. :3


	8. AKA The Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey discovered what the island used to be and then some.

   Kylo Ren groaned. Without removing his head from the cool wall he looked Rey, standing a few feet away. She was barely visible with only the blue crystals to outline her body with her face watching him with amusement. Seeing her face only irritated him more and he groaned.

   “Changing the past would not save the galaxy. You change one thing and it changes everything, without knowing if it made it worse. Why can’t you just go through the tradition route? Look, I’ll.. I’ll…” Kylo lifted his head and walked to the woman.

   “I’ll help you into his fortress. We’ll do it right. You’re strong enough to do it. Well, not right now. You’re still only three years into of training… You can’t do it now. You’ll die…And then what? Wait, what was this master’s name?” She shifted uncomfortably.

   “Master Lux Tenebras.”

   “Rey. That’s-”

   “I know what it translate to. Your grandfather told me after the fact.”

   “How can you even trust what she wanted was to help and not to create chaos? It could be a trap.”

   “Says the man I don’t trust.” Kylo walked away from Rey and heading further down the cavern, frustration written all over his face and into his stomps. She followed tentatively after him. The only sounds coming from their steps and Kylo mumbling to himself, occasionally Rey caught not so pleasant remarks that either involved her master or herself. She watched him touch the walls on either side of him every once in awhile to keep the lights active. Suddenly, he stopped in front of the left wall and placed his palm on the wall at eye level. Blue light expanded from its usual straight line into various swirls that stretched into a large rectangle. Rey gasp, thinking it's movement was almost as beautiful as rain.

   Then the covered rock shifted and moved behind the wall.

   “It’s a door?”

   “I found it when I was training. I had completed the initial portion of it and was left here for a few months to show the ability for self reliance. I spent weeks meditating in here.”

   “If that cave by the cove would have destroyed me, how will this one not.” Kylo stepped in the darkened room and looked back at Rey.

   “I was exaggerating a bit, if you had paid attention more into this connection we had- you’d probably had pick up my bluff. But there’s history in that cave that is not for you to witness. Now come. I have a lot to explain.” She was half tempted to smack him but she was in a cave and a lightsaber fight would have been claustrophobic for her. She sighed and stepped in.

   The room was large and spacious with only a small basin filled with reflective liquid in the middle of the room. The ceiling was covered in was looked to be white versions of the blue light crystals in the halls. They were positioned in clusters of star systems, each individual crystal pulsated in different patterns. Rey could even pick out a few systems she recognized off memory. Rey anticipated the room to be dark like the cavern hall, half expecting to see bones and blood on the ground and a sacrifice table. But the room was clean and large crystals radiating adequate light from the walls inside. She could clearly see Kylo Ren who watching at her uncomfortably, standing by the basin.

   “I’m about to suggest something that requires a bit of trust. Leave your saber by the entrance. Before you argue, my saber is already there.”

   “I’d rather you explain first before letting go of my staff.” Kylo groaned and crossed his arms.

   “Fine. Have it your way, scavenger.

   "This used to be a Sith temple. The whole island was dedicating in training young Force users in the way of the dark. It hasn’t been used in centuries since it fell when its location was given to the Jedis who then attacked the location and tried to cleanse the land. Plus the obvious that there are no Siths left. Snoke apparently was given a vision of this location and started training the Knights of Ren here. And then the First Order was formed and started making headway so he left me in charge of the training the others once I finished training directly with Snoke.  I left this for a different planet for the Knights shortly after… proving my allegiance.

   “This room heighten one’s ability to use the Force. The basin intensifies visions and provide the user the ability to search within the Force. Among other things, but today, I just want you to focus on that ability. 

   “Did Snoke know about this room?”

   “I don’t think so. He would have exploit it to find where your friends are. I believed he only stayed at the cave we were at earlier. If you noticed, this cave doesn’t give off any signs of activity so I doubt he ventured this far inland for this. He just wanted to be able to use an old Sith temple as training grounds. But I believe sometime during the last hundred years the cavern shifted from solely a Sith temple with holding its powers but it also embraced the cleansing the Jedis attempted and took the powers Jedis presented to it. In other words, I think it's what you're looking for: balance. It’s an example of both sides taking in its lessons and strengths. I focused more on the Sith lessons it had to offer but I didn’t understand when I was younger why it was so invisible to Snoke yet I felt its presence the first night here. I think it reached out for me to find it so eventually I could pass it to you.”

   “You can’t pass a cavern to me.”

   “You seek knowledge, Rey. It can show you a different new approach. One that doesn’t try to change the past.”

   “I still haven’t explained how to fix it-”

   “Don’t be stubborn, Rey.”

   “Ha. Have you tried talking to yourself?” Kylo rolled his eyes. In response, she walked to the door and untied her lightsaber from her belt and placed it on the floor.

   “Okay, what do we do?”

   “I do nothing. You need to approach the basin and place your hand over the liquid.”

   “Where’s the suppose trust coming into this?”

   “You’re going to go in a state of medication and left vulnerable. I would prefer you not attack me when you come out of it.”

   “I guess, that’s reasonable. But I’m getting tired of visions.” Kylo Ren looked confused from her statement but moved to a wall anyway to give her plenty of space around the basin. She walked to the structure and looked at Kylo for more explicit directions. He lifted his arm and flatten his hand, palm facing the ground, Rey imitated over the liquid. She was immediately dizzy and closed her eyes.

 

_“Hello, Rey.” She opened her eyes to a bright array of lights and had to shield them with her hand. Looking down, she was clearly on a rock, not longer than twenty feet in length… and darkness beyond the rock._

_“Sorry, let me modify the area. Black holes are messy eaters and spill light everywhere.” The light lowered and Rey looked up and adjusted to the lights. She took a step back from shock both at the location she was at and who was in front of her._

_“Master Tenebras. We’re… on an asteroid heading into a black hole. I- what?” There were asteroids and objects in all directions going towards a singular solid black sphere that destroys everything in its path. Their own asteroid was surrounded by a sphere of amber liquid, screening the blazing lights radiating from the black hole.  A green skin humanoid stood in front of Rey and laughed. She was tall and skinny, with graying blue hair wearing a simple tunic. She was plain but she looked deadly._

_“Yes, dear.”_

_“I thought you said we were never going to cross paths again?”_

_“Well, your partner turned out to be worth saving. So I figure I would teach you another lesson for you to use in the future. This one, dear, you do have to keep to yourself. You can't even show the Master Skywalkers.” Rey fidgeted._

_“Master, he isn’t my partner.”_

_“No?”_

_“Definitely not.” Lux Tenebras smiled and clapped her hands._

_“Well then, we don’t have long. He’s already pacing the floor waiting for you to finish. And I need you to learn this technique, sooner rather than later.”_

_“You’re being vague. I have questions about what you’ve already taught me. And concerns, about the timewalking”_

_“My answers will not help you in what you want answered, I assure you. And I already explained to you that it’s how you use it that, not its origin. Now I can either teach you or spend this time building your self esteem but you will regret choosing the latter.” Tenebras had a devilish smile and Rey simply sighed._

_“Okay.”_

   Kylo Ren felt he had worn out the floor from his pacing. Hours passed and Kylo was growing very restless. Suddenly Rey’s breathing shifted and he moved to the basin where she was standing. Her hand wavered and suddenly her eyes were open. And then she fell. Kylo anticipating this, caught her before she hit the ground. His arms were wrapped around her shoulder and his chest took the bulk of her weight.

   “I forgot to mention it drains your energy.” Rey burrowed her eyebrows, her head spinning.

   “Of course you did. Your Sith friends didn’t put a bench next to the basin? I was gone for days and have definitely not trained to put that much strain on my legs.” Rey suddenly realized where his arms was and how close he was to her. She motioned for him to let her sit.

   “Rey, you were meditating for only four hours.”

   “Really?”

   “What did you see? A better solution?” Rey blushed instead of answering. That response baffled Kylo. An uncomfortable silence covered the air until Rey finally spoke.

   “We have to figure out this connection between us. If it makes you feel better, I worked out what's left of the kinks while meditating. Now help me up. I’m not enjoying this darkness anymore.”

   “You’re encouraging us to use the Force bond?” Kylo stood up and held out his hand. She grunted and took it and lifted herself up. She raised her hand and her lightsaber came. Kylo jumped back.

   “Hey! What are you doing?”

   “Sorry. Force of habit. I feel unbalanced without it and didn't think.” And then she laughed. Kylo looked at her in annoyance.

   “Did you just use, not just one, but two puns? I should fight you right now.” Which caused Rey to laugh harder.

   “Sorry. Let’s get going. We need to discuss step four. And you need to explain the Force bond. We're going to need it.” Rey stumbled a few steps to the doorway.

   “Just let me support you until you get your bearings.” Without waiting for her permission, he bent down and placed his arm under her shoulder. She started to groan in annoyance but he moved on ignoring her response. They awkwardly left the room and started the walk out of the cave. The door naturally lit up again and shut itself clossed. Kylo Ren who was hunch over to match her height, was beat red. And Rey who was looking in front of her with red in her cheeks that challenged Kylo's. Both were looking in opposite directions.

   “What’s step four?” He felt her stiffen up but sighed before speaking.

   “Prevent the Jedi academy massacre you caused.” Kylo almost dropped her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was tough chapter because I had a few things that have to come together before they start 'the plan' and trying to bring all the pieces together without giving up critical points to the plot turns out to be much harder than I anticipated. The next chapter includes how time travel can work without the risk of creating a worse future. So you got that to look forward to.


	9. AKA Jedi Academy, Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which step four is finally explained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is some cussing in this chapter, just a warning,

   There was an intense silence while they walked down the cavern halls. Kylo Ren was still half carrying Rey who was sheepishly looking at the floor. A mixture of emotions was radiating off of Kylo. After a few minutes of the silence, Kylo moved away from Rey and walked on, having determined she was capable of walking on her own. They stayed in the silence for over forty minutes with the only sounds coming from their steps.

   Rey finally broke the silence.

   “I worded it wrong.” He continued walking, not responding.

   “Kylo.” His shoulders stiffen but his pace only quicken. She groan and sped up, lifting her hand and Kylo was pushed against the wall from the Force. She moved in front of him, barely an inch was between them. Kylo was obviously agitated from her actions but did not retaliate and instead refused to look down at her.

   “I’m sorry! Okay? I didn’t realize it held such emotional turmoil within you, considering you are, indeed, directly responsible for it. You can be grumpy all your want, but I’d prefer to have your help and if you’re going to just ignore me, I’d rather you listen first and then be disagreeable.” Her pointer finger poked him in the chest and he looked angrily down at her. He pushed her away from him and walked down the cavern, the sun light starting to protrude at the end. But then suddenly yelled back to her.

   “Does my uncle know of this step?”

   “He’s the one that suggested it.” Rey walked out of the cave and saw Kylo standing by the evergreens.

   “You can’t go there. Teach me how to time walk and I’ll go for you but you can’t go there.”

   “Absolutely not. Look if you’re concerned about a chain reaction or creating a worse fate, I have a solution. Just listen-”

“NO!” He yanked his lightsaber from his belt and started slashing at the tree trunks. Rey kept yelling at him for him to come to his sense but he was so engrossed in fury, looking at nothing but in front of him with pieces of wood flying everywhere. In his blind rage, it wasn’t until a full second pass in delay that he proceed a loud crack and realized it was the sound of a tree falling straight at him. He grunted and lifted his saber to attack it but it stopped mid air. Rey had her arms up focused on the object.

   “For Force’s sake, Ben! Can you swallow your damn rage and think straight? A lightsaber isn’t going to move the tree out of the way, all you’ll do is just create two pieces to fall on you! Fucking move before I make you move!” He didn’t and instead, dropped his saber and lifted his hand causing the tree to be tossed down the peak.

   “Or do that, sure. Fine. Whatever. Are you done?” Rey crossed her arms, staring heatedly at him. Kylo lifted his saber from the ground and placed it in his belt latch and stared right back at Rey.

   “No. I’m not done.

   “You can’t go anywhere near the Jedi academy.”

   “And why not?”

   “Because you can’t!” Kylo raised his hands irately.

   “That’s a piss poor excuse and you know it!”

   “You just can’t! Luke shouldn’t have even suggested it except for his own selfish desire for his failure to not be in vain. He knew and-” She stepped towards him.

   “He knew what?”

   “Rey.”

   “Ben.”

   “Don’t cross that line.” His hand was over his saber. Rey grabbed her saber and extended it to the full staff position.

   “Or what?” She gave him a challenged look and taunted him.

   Quickly and unexpectedly, Rey saw an image of herself as a child; no more than six years old, smiling with a toothy grin and her traditional three buns in place. Her stance changed and confusion followed. Kylo looked panicked and she realized it came from him.

   “What. Did. You. Do?!” She didn’t even give him a chance to answer and ran to him and toggled her saber into her saberstaff into full offensive position. Kylo blocked her attack with his own saber. She attempted another swipe and kicked him in the chest when he dodged.

   “I protected you.” Their sabers met, red versus green, plasma dripping from their assault. She pulled back and swiped again.

   “Bullshit.” He parried and stepped around her. Kylo stayed defensive, refusing to attack back. They circled around each other.

   “You would have been killed.”

   “Why would that have mattered?” She struck again, aiming for his torso. Kylo barely blocking in time.

   “Stop this, Rey. You were just yelling at me about my own rage and now letting it consumed yourself.” She charged at him again, being warded off by his defense.

   “It’s not the same. And you know it.” Their sabers meet again and formed an ‘x’, Rey was pushing her blade into his, inching it closer to his body.

   “What do you hope to accomplish with this?” He yelled through the noise of their sabers.

   “I want answers!” She pulled back, refusing to turn off her saberstaff and instead placed it to be in a blocking stance across her body.

   “Start talking, Ben.” He turned off his lightsaber. And looked at her.

   “You need to promise not to try to change anything.”

   "We both know I’ll lie.”

   “Turn off the saberstaff... please.” She stood there for a long moment and finally turned it off. Kylo gave a small breath of relief.

   “Now.”

   “Not here, I can show you instead. They’re in the cave by the cove.” He motioned for her to go down the path they went through hours ago.

   She whispered, “they?”

 

* * *

 

    Their walk back down the mountain was even more strained than the walk through the cavern’s halls. Rey was second guessing her time with Master Luke and trying to piece together what little information she had and what the image she just saw meant. Kylo just looked straight ahead and kept both his face and mind clear.

   In the late afternoon, they made it back to the now familiar cove and they both stood outside the cave. Kylo reached his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it. He made no effort to step into the cave and closed his eyes.

   “What do you know of what happened?”

   “Don’t delay this, Ben.” He took a deep breath.

   “Just.. tell me.”

   “I touched Luke’s lightsaber and saw bits of it. I remember the rain. But then I heard from Luke, himself, of how his nephew betrayed the Jedi way and helped the Knights of Ren raid the academy while Luke was on a faux mission to send him out of the system. They killed everyone.”

   “Except you.”

   “I don’t understand.” Rey faced Ben but he continued to stare into the cave, refusing to face her.

   “I know. I’m not going to be able to provide who you were before the academy. I just can tell you that we found you in the slumps of a city with no family. But we were... friends, I guess. I don’t know why we didn’t find you sooner. You disrupted the flow of the Force with such pure light so severely that any Force sensitive could feel you light years away. And you were only three." He paused for a moment. 

   “I… they’re… they’re buried here. I don’t know what brought me to do that. But I buried each of them here, in hopes of, well, something that I’m not sure of. Maybe to get back at Luke even more that he couldn’t send those with families back. Snoke already grew tired of the planet so I figured he would never know.

   "I couldn't tell you how I really managed moving them here without any of the Knights getting suspicious especially since I was in the cave a lot the first couple weeks after. I took a separate ship the night of ...it... and took you to Jakku. I thought I could come back to you and take you on as my apprentice and really keep you safe. But years went by and I realized you were more safe on that desert planet, away from me. I thought it would be the last good thing I could accomplish; protecting you. But the Force had other plans, clearly.” His words were thick with difficulty, his throat burning, his cheeks paled from disgrace. With every word threatening to cause Ben to burst into shameful tears. It was the first time he had ever brought to words of these actions.

   Rey stared into the cavern and then at him. Angry and empathetic. Understanding and hatred.  Rage and compassion. Pity and betrayal. Her mind racing to determine which emotion to settle on. Her shoulder hunched ready to beat him up, possibly with her saber staff. She started walking to him. Ben stayed still, accepting whatever decision she made.

   She walked in front of him. No decision made. Her mind speeding through a thousand thoughts. A wasted childhood. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he looked down to her. Then Rey punched him square in the face, blood already coming out of his nose as he fell down. And she turned around and walked straight into the cave with her head held high.

 

   Ben stayed on the ground. Unsure of what to do beyond stopping the bleeding, he elected to take the ‘do nothing’ approach. He heard movements from inside for awhile and then suddenly Rey came out with a smile on her face. It was the most unexpected behavior to anticipated and he sat dumbfounded. She walked over to him and held out her hand.

   “The punch was deserved and I’m not sorry.” She was still smiling. He took her hand and lifted himself up. Kylo Ren was speechless.

   “It worked, Ben.” And then he was utterly confused.

   “That’s not possible. I buried children in there.” She just smiled harder.

   “I told you, I worked out the kinks. There are definitely children in there. But they’re not dead.”

   “How? I helped slaughter them. I watched them bleed out. I buried bodies.”

   “Did you? Are you ready to actually listen to what I have planned for step four or are we going to fight again?” He just nodded his head for her to continue.

   “We can’t prevent it from happening. If we did, you don’t prove yourself to Snoke and who knows what sort of future is created. But. If, let's say, we go back in time and create the illusion of it occurring- we make Snoke happy, we keep young Ben angst and guilt-riddle, and you ditch me on the desert planet and never looked back.” He cringed at her statement but didn’t argue.

   “And how do we create the illusion? And how do we keep children from dying, yet let them be in dirt for over ten years?” Rey laughed.

   “Ben. I’m a Jedi and you’re the Master of the Knights of Ren. Illusions are our things. We just have to make you believe you and the others killed them while also making sure they give no indication of life until now. Think, we would have trained Jedis’ to fight with.”

   “I’m with you on the first part but you still haven’t shared how to do the latter.” She walked over to the ocean and placed her feet where waves were passing through, as if she was finally solving a complex problem.

   “Did your father ever tell you about his time with Jabba the hut?”

   “Rey.”

   “Do you really remember burying them as brutally murdered with injuries, by chance?”

   “I..” Ben thought about the hours spent in digging holes but the details of his old classmates’ bodies were fuzzy. He looked at Rey.

   “You didn’t.”

   “We did. We motherfucking saved the children. We just have to actually do it now.”

   “How do we get carbonite?” Rey faced Ben and then looked behind him, waves reaching her toes.

   “We can ask your grandfather. I believed, he mentioned a time in which he smuggled himself into the city during the Clone Wars using that means. Right, master?”

   And then Ben Solo heard an unfamiliar voice behind him

   “Ah, _Just Rey_ , you were indeed listening to my stories.” Ben slowly turned around and faced Anakin Skywalker.


	10. AKA The Set Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the three finish planning and Rey and Kylo fix their Force Bond.

    Ben Solo stepped behind him, closer into the shoreline The last ten minutes have been absolutely confusing for him and now ten feet away stood his grandfather.

   “Master, I think you made your grandson speechless.”

   “Indeed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so baffled.” Rey walked to few steps to Ben and reached for his shoulder to give support but second guess herself.

   “I’m grabbing firewood. I expect more discussion about myself being apart of the Jedi academy-”Rey looked at Anakin and yelled, “And don’t think I’m not going to yell at you for not telling me either. Master Luke has a punch awaiting him, you let him know for me. And you’ll get yours when I die.” She walked away from the men and into the woodland.

    For a few minutes, the ocean breaking its waves was the only sound heard. Ben finally broke the silence between the two.

   “Why are you here now?” Taking his question as permission to come closer, Anakin floated towards Ben.

   “I’ve always been here. As to why you finally see me is because you’re finally able to look at me as your grandfather and not as Darth Vader. Coming to you sooner would have just let you fall further into the dark side. And your mother suffered enough as it.” Anakin Skywalker stood in front of Ben and smiled.

   “I see you outmatched me for scars over eyes.” Ben rolled his eyes.

   “I needed your guidance and you didn’t come. Yet you’ll teach her, without a second thought?”

   “Both are not inclusive, Ben.” Kylo Ren waved his arms and stormed closer to the shore line.

   “Since when did everyone think it’s okay to call me Ben? My name is Kylo Ren!” Kylo turned around facing the ocean, his arms crossed. Anakin kept his patience, something he had not when alive and simply moved closer to his grandson.

   “I apologize, Kylo. I felt that since Rey had called you that name it was acceptable. I did not realize it was just an intimate understanding between you two.” Kylo scoffed.

   “I allow her to call me that because even the threat of death does not stop her.” Anakin gave a gentle laugh.

   “Indeed.” They reached another silence while the waves touched Ben. Ben was struggling to keep his emotions within himself. The sun, giving its last ditch effort to share its rays before it dipped below the horizon.

   “She often reminds me of Padmé. Both strong in their beliefs and what they felt was right. My wife anchored me to the light and gave me strength but I allowed my own darkness to smothered her and lost everything. My redemption came was too late and the galaxy suffered for it. My own weaknesses left two children separated and grew up without knowing either of their parents or each other. But it’s not too late for you. My path has been traveled, do not feel you must walk my path.”

   “What about finishing what you started?”

   “My boy, some things should not be finished. I may be Darth Vader but that is not my only sense of self. There are still worlds who speak of my transgressions and live in fear still of being attacked by a similar being. Is this really the path you still seek? To be feared?”

   “You were uniting the galaxy together. Sacrifices are necessary. To be feared is simply a consequence I accept, grandfather. Darkness is always there, it’s pull greater than the Light- clearly the stronger of the two.”

   “Kylo, look at the girl. Does she seem weak to you?”

   “Anecdotal evidence means nothing, grandfather. But if you must use her as an example; you, the chosen one, strayed from the Jedi. If you can be pulled to the Dark side, then there is cause to believe that fighting it myself is worth it.”

   “Nonsense. Look at my son. He, too, was the chosen one and even after your actions, he did not join the Dark side for revenge but left to find redemption.

   “The dark side is not necessarily evil Kylo, you know this. But can you tell what you’re doing is truly for the best for the galaxy, for the Force? Or is this just to help your master? Do not feel as if I condemn you for not finding peace within the Jedi but if you continue down this path, as you know, you’re walking towards an nonredeemable death. Will it be worth it?”

   “I-” Rey approached the men and interrupted Kylo.

   “Well, I’m glad Ben did not discover a way to kill you again through the Force, master.” Anakin smiled and turned to the woman.

   “Indeed. Now, my dear, let’s start that fire. I see you figured out a way to accomplish the next step. We should talk details, have you two get some rest, and get step four accomplished so tomorrow morning you can meet up with Luke for the next step.” The small group had started to walk in the direction of Rey’s tent. However, Kylo stopped at the last part of Anakin's comment.

   “No. I’m not meeting with Luke.” Rey and Anakin stopped and exchanged looks. Rey spoke.

   “Uh, right. Master Skywalker meant me. Tomorrow will be two days. We need to separate, for obvious reasons.So some time before separating we need to make sure the Force bond works so I can get in contact with you without raiding a base.

   "Plus, we’re not prepared to go after Snoke or the First Order yet, we have to go back to being enemies until then.” Ben turned flushed and responded with an ‘oh’. Rey dropped her firewood and started walking to the cave for food. To fill the awkwardness, he set to work in starting a fire. Anakin gave a cough.

   “I know you’re upset. I made the mistake of not coming when you were young and providing guidance. Perhaps you wouldn’t have felt the pull as strong if you had the chance to see more than what stories said about the infamous Darth Vader. I won’t make the mistake again. Rey is going to down play this but it’s going to become even more dangerous for you. You’re going to have to do everything possible to make sure Snoke does not feel any change within you. But if you still request guidance, I will come.” Kylo stopped folding the wood and and looked up at Anakin but whatever response he had chosen was discarded and he went back to starting the fire. Rey came back with food packets, a pot, and canteens full of water to an almost comfortable silence and fresh fire.

   “So carbonite. Where do we get some?” Kylo took the pot and a canteen and poured water into it.

   “I think the better question is why don’t you just bring them to the present time?” She looked sheepishly to the sand.

   “That’s a lot of people for me to bring over. Even if I could somehow teach the students to lend me their Force for support, I could end up killing half of them or getting lost.”

   “Wait, have you done this before… and with a second person?”

   “Uhh, well, a few times. I jumped ahead a few days. And Master Tenebras was with me. But this is going back in time over ten years ago is already going to be a troubling. So relax, you're not a test subject.” Ben groaned. Anakin watched in amusement between the two.

   “So back to the original question: carbonite? Master?”

   “You need to get them into a factory that has such machine and carbon freeze them there. A neutral planet is bound to have one during that era. If you take them on the night of the massacre, it’ll give you time to transport them there and to the cave. So you need a ship. I suggest that you two don’t go straight on to the temple but at least a day  before the Knights come to make their plans into action.” Ben passed the finished food to Rey. Ben spoke.

   “Okay, fine. That’s taken care of. But what about the bodies at the temple?”

   “Do you have any animals in the woodlands outside of the temple. I don’t really remember since someone wiped my memories.” She took the food.

   “Uh. Yeah. Wild boars near the mountain. So we make the Knights and myself think they’re killing children when they’re just cutting up animals?”

   “It makes the most sense. Master?”

   “I feel as if my usefulness is limited. But it sounds like the most capable idea of plausibility. Will you be going to Luke in that time to explain any of this?”

   “No.” Both young adults responded at the same time.

   “The less that-”

   “I don’t want to face-”

   “People know the-”

   “It’ll be a mess-” Anakin waved his hand up for silence.

   “Alright, alright. So my son doesn’t know. You’ll just let him suffer for over a decade for the death of children who aren’t actually dead. No big deal.” Both rolled their eyes. And then immediately looked in opposite directions when they realized how close their actions matched.

   “Master Luke will be fine. He’s reckless, I wouldn’t put it past him in trying to come here and uncarbonite them before tomorrow if he knew.”

   “Well, then. I shall leave you too and go to my son to update him. I’ll have him meet you here in the late morning tomorrow to help revitalize the children. Kylo can be gone before his arrival. Shall I leave your threat out as to allow yourself the to deliver it yourself tomorrow, my dear?” Rey smiled wickedly as her answer. Anakin nodded his head at Kylo and faded.

   They sat in silence as they finished eating. Ben broke the silence.

   “Where are we going to get a ship?”

   “I figured we’d steal one from the Resistance base if one is near the temple.” He nearly choked as he was drinking water from a canteen. Ben looked at Rey in disbelief.

   “Not the First Order?”

   “Nah, this one seems more fun.”

   “Fun?”

   “Uh, yeah.” She took the last bite of her food, suspiciously.

   “Mhm, and you do realize my mother wouldn’t be on that base, right? Any attempt to get me to see her wouldn’t work.” Rey looked self-consciously at the fire.

   “Oh.”

   “But yes, there’s a base nearby we can use.”

   “Okay. Problem solved. Anything else?” She looked at Ben. He sighed.

   “No chance in talking you out of this?” She narrowed her eyes.

   “Not unless you want read bodies in that cave.”

   “I guess then I will assist you in changing the past…”

   “Cool. Well, I’m going to go to bed. We’re going to need sleep. Find the coordinates that the base was at the day before it, I work better knowing the exact area. Hate to put us in the middle of space.” She stood up but Kylo grabbed her wrist as she walked passed him.

   “Wait. We need to break whatever hold you put over the connection. Tomorrow we’re going to be too busy to unravel three years worth of wall. And it might be handy to have an active connection that doesn’t simply flare when one of us are in pain.” Rey sighed and plopped ungracefully on the sand next to him. His hand was still on her wrist. She felt its warm presence and didn’t make an effort to shake him off her.

   “You’re right. But the wall was something Master Luke helped me with. I didn’t really pay attention to what he did.”

   “I’m going to need to try and peer into your mind.” Ben realized he was still holding her wrist and let go. Rey looked at Ben with horror from his statement, he quickly reworded. “I’m just going to look for the bond. Just take a minute to block anything you don’t want me to see. But you look at webs of people created from the Force, right?”

   “How do you know that?”

   “I- you’ve told me. Don’t tell me your memory is that faulty? I only took your childhood, what’s your excuse?” She growled and closed her eyes. He gave her a moment to collect anything she didn’t want him to see.

   “Follow my web and focus on it.” Ben closed his eyes and waited for any feeling of a tug. A few minutes passed and he finally felt a slight pull.

 

_They were in a desert with an unforgiving sun in a bright blue sky, standing in front of each other. Ben still wearing his black outfit but Rey was back in her normal blue attire._

_“Why would you choose the sand as a template of your mind?”_

_“Another time for that. You’re in my mind and no offense, but hurry up and fix it so you can get out.”_

_“Rey. If I fix it, I won’t really leave. My presence will always be in the back of your mind unless you truly sever it- which I wouldn’t suggest as it will be mentally and physically painful or one of us dies. If you don’t want that, then we leave the wall up.” She looked horrified and paced the sand._

_“Is that why Master Luke didn’t sever it?”_

_“I don’t know why he didn’t. If he was smart, then yes.”_

_“Are we going to need to go into your mind to fix it as well?”_

_“That’s not necessary. You’re muted from my mind but that’s from you, not a disconnect from my end.”_

_“Okay.”_

_“Okay as is scary Kylo Ren becomes apart of your mind?”_

_“Ben.” He gave a rare smile._

_“Alright. I need you to think of me. Think as if you need to talk to me without using your mouth.”_

_“That sounds ridiculous.”_

_“Tell me that without saying it.” Rey huffed and looked into his brown eyes. Suddenly the blue skies went dark with thick storm clouds covering the sun. She didn’t seem to notice and continued to stare at his face. However, Ben broke eye contact when it started pouring and saw blood oozing all over the sand. Bodies were washing off of the sand. He realized she was pulling up portions of what she must have seen in the vision of the massacre. Rey disappeared and suddenly he was on top of a mountain, the rain and bodies gone._

_“Master, please. Stop it. I don’t want to feel his pain anymore. Or his anger. Help me.” Ben turned around and saw Rey on the dirt, knees on the ground, half sobbing, in front of Luke Skywalker. Luke bent down and touched her shoulder._

_“I can only help so much, but I can try.” Ben saw how old and tired his previous master looked now. Fear and shame clashed into his chest, paralyzed by panic. Luke lifted his hand and pressed his palm against her forehead and closed his eyes. And then strength found Ben._

_“Wait!” He walked to Luke who moved his hand from Rey. Rey just sat there, as if frozen._

_“Ah. Ben. Are you here to reconnect the Force bond?” Despite the shame that went through his veins, he looked into Luke’s eyes._

_“Yes.”_

_“Did you come here by force or is she granting your permission? And I may just be the real Luke’s safeguard but I will know if you lie and I will destroy you.” Luke’s eyes harden._

_“She has granted me permission.” The sincerity was obvious._

_“I am glad someone was able to finally reach you, Ben. Do not let her down.” Luke’s face soften_

_“I’ll try.” Luke smiled._

_“Do or do not. There is no try.”_

 

   Rey opened her eyes and could feel Ben presence, it was almost intoxicating of how much Force she could feel from him. She was almost tempted to follow the aura but he opened his eyes and looked at her.

    _That seems ridiculous._ But Ben didn't look pleased.

 _You seem to have such a pleasant opinion of me._ Rey flinched.

 _To be fair, you haven’t given me much reason to think highly of yourself._ He rolled his eyes and got up.

 _Get some rest. I’ll go get the coordinates of the base. Busy day tomorrow. Unmurdering children and all._ He turned his back against Rey and waved as he walked off.

 

   They both dreamed that night of an ocean with two sea creatures circling around each other. It was the closest to undisturbed sleep either of them had gotten in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And *finally* we get going into the past in the next chapter. Thanks for reading so far!


	11. AKA Jedi Academy Pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the two attempt to work together to save Luke's academy.

_Rey._ Rey groaned and rolled in her sleep.

 _Five more minutes, Master._ She heard the zipper and sat up alert. Ben Solo popped his head into the tent.

“As much as I would prefer to be teaching you instead of this, we need to get going.” Rey blinked and looked behind him and saw pitch dark: the sun hadn’t even tried to begin the day yet. She dramatically fell back to her thin mat.

“Ben.”

“Come on. I’ve packed supplies but I’ve realize I don’t know what you’re capable of bringing.” He stepped back but left the tent open. Rey sighed.

“I was just planning on just us, everything else we can wing it. Hey, can we go to the Tie fighter, first? I need a serious use of the fresher.”

“You mean, that smell isn't just apart of your winning personality?” She grunted and stepped out of the tent.

“You’re working on earning a second punch.”

 

An hour passed and Rey stepped out of the tiny fresher that was shoved into the corner of the Tie fighter. The cavern dirt, sand, and ocean gone from her skin and she placed her black attire back on her. She felt Ben’s presence outside the ship, far enough to give her space but she could feel his nervousness bubbling on his surface. She stepped outside of the ship platform and saw Ben looking at something who only looked up at her and then walk silently passed her to take his own shower. She noticed he left papers next to his mask and went to investigate.

 _One of them includes the coordinates._ Rey reached for one of the papers.

_When does it get easier knowing you’re watching everything I do? Wait._

_Relax. I just had a hunch you were going to go and look at what I brought_ _._ Rey narrowed her eyes anyway and suddenly saw inside of the fresher.

 _Hey! Pay attention!_ She refocused on the papers in front of her and blushed.

 _Sorry, I didn’t realize how easy it was to look._ She felt his growl in response.

Rey was memorizing the coordinates he scribbled on the sheet when he came out of the Tie fighter. Ben grabbed his mask and held it over his hips waiting for her to finish.

“So, how does this work?”Ben looked at her but she just mumbled softly back and then looked up.

“Well, based on the coordinates, I can get us on the planet by, well, a portal of sorts. But if you’ve been to the base and can think of a location outside of it that isn’t going to draw any soldiers, I won’t be putting us in a weird location or on the other side of the planet.”

“If you’re creating a portal, how does it matter how many go through?”

“Because I’m not only creating the portal but everything that goes through it has to be through my own personal Force, you’re going through time wrapped in my energy, it’s what protects you and prevents you from getting crushed by the dimension inside. Plus, It takes a lot of energy to even do myself. Having a bunch various ages of children would in most likely kill me. And that accomplishes nothing.”

“I… alright. Um, yeah, I know the base, I would go to the base during limited holidays when my mother was free. Here.” He approached Rey and placed his palm on her forehead. Rey did all she could do not to flinch. And suddenly she saw a base of a mountain with the lights of an aerial base a few miles away. It was enough to use.

“Perfect.” And Rey looked down. “You’re bringing the mask?”

“Yes. It makes the sense.”

“No it doesn’t but that’s fine. Put it on you.” Ben strapped on Kylo Ren’s mask and made sure his lightsaber was strapped in. Rey closed her eyes and stretched both her arms out, her body was completed straight and with her arms out, Ben thought she looked like a lowercase ‘t’. He stood fascinated as her body’s edges started to dimly glow light yellow. In an instant, she opened her eyes straight ahead of her and her hands slapped together at her center. Two feet in front of her a tall black oval stood with lights fraying around its edges. Ben expected loud noises and air either coming or going from the portal but it stayed quiet and only did the oval occasionally quiver. It was beautiful but unnatural.

“I’m going first to make sure it’s opened to at least land. You have maybe about ten seconds to come before it can’t sustain itself so last chance to wuss out.” She couldn’t see his face but knew he rolled his eyes, in response, she smiled and walked in. Ben waited a full second before he took a deep breath and tentatively entered the portal.

Ben expected to experience the journey similarly as going through a hyperdrive without the protection of a spaceship but it was a lot more chaotic with a thousand colors littering the space rather than the expansions of stars passing through, he was aware he wasn't breathing but he wasn't grasping for air either. The colors swirled around him and he felt he didn't moved but rather the whole area moved passed him. It was only a few seconds of travel and Ben was glad to see a black oval in front of him. He placed his arm through and suddenly he felt his arm yanked on and he was dragged into the dark night. Ben fell ungracefully on top of who pulled him out. He recognized the groan and rushed to get off.

“I was just trying to get you out. Sorry.” Ben apologetically held his hand out for Rey who took it. She wiped the dirt off her clothes. “Does this place look right?” Ben looked around him, it was dark with only a small moon reflecting back. There was the barest trace of a mountain behind them and lights coming from the east.

“Looks to be. You need to control your energy so any force sensitives can't detect you.”

“Alright. Lead the way.” They headed towards the east.

 

They stopped at the end of the tree line prior to the base. If one called a landing strips and three buildings a base. Rey looked at Ben.

_I was expecting more, well, everything. It doesn’t even look like they stationed guards here._

_My mother extended a base here for Luke. It wasn’t meant for serious fire power, just a place for Luke to send students to grab supplies and still be close to the academy._ He went sober for a moment and then looked relieved.

_You were checking for your mother, weren’t you?_

_It doesn’t matter. Come, scavenger._ Ben walked cautiously the sixty feet to the closest building. It was late at night and no sounds were coming from any of the buildings. Rey followed closely behind. They approached at the corner of the first building, three stories tall with scattered windows. In front of them stood a large building with a huge entrance, soft light was illuminating inside showing a half dozen X-wing fighters lined up. However, Ben noticed near the loading dock, a freighter was positioned. He mentally thanked who ever had made the order for supplies for tonight and looked at Rey.

 _They have a XS stock freighter. That’ll be large enough to transfer the students in._ Rey looked over the corner and then scowled.

_It looks a couple decades old. Are we sure it can still hyper-drive?_

_Don’t be picky. We can’t fit them in an x-wing._

_Fine._ They both quickly sprinted to the garage, slowly entering the wide door. They didn’t hear any movement and carried on to the freighter. Ben stood in front of the ship’s entry door.

 _Wait, how is this not going to cause them to chase after us?_  Rey fidgeted as she worked on getting the panel to let them in.

 _We wing it. But the door’s about to release- use the Force to slow it down to reduce down._ He did as he was told and the door barely made a sound. They stepped inside but Rey heard a sound, she looked at Ben in alert. Both listening for more sound.

 _It appears to be coming from inside?_ The noise was inconsistent, some mumbling was heard but nothing could be determined.

 _It’s coming from the cockpit. Maybe a man inside. No killing, Ben._ They walked slowly and careful to the front of the ship. Rey had her hand over the panel and looked at Ben who nodded. She pressed the button and the door opened.

“What? Who’s there?” Shuffling came from the cockpit.

“Poe, I thought you said no one would find us.” Rey and Ben stayed next to wall on either side of the entrance, staring at each other waiting for whoever was in the room to investigate. And unexpectedly, a late teenager Poe Dameron and a brunette girl stepped out of the room. Ben raised his hand and both teens fell unconscious.

“I cannot believe this. I’m so going to tell Finn.” Rey whispered excitable.

 _Rey._ She looked up at his mask and looked at the teenagers.

_No, this is perfect. We tell them to tell whoever comes after the we lift off that we’re heading to another system. Get some rope. We need to tie them up; make us stealing the ship look authentic._

_Rey, it_ **_is_ ** _authentic._ She rolled her eyes.

After carrying the two tied up teens outside of the ship, Rey looked at Poe and smiled. She never expected his involvement started so young. And then she focused on the next task, waving her hand she woke up Poe.

“What? Cindy, you know I don’t care for surprises.” He was dazed and then realized he was tied up and stiffen. He looked at Rey with harden eyes, she sighed.

“You will tell the others that two blue men stole the ship and argued to each other that they were heading to the Ryloth system.” His eyes glazed.

“I will tell the others that two blue men stole the ship and argued to each other that they were heading to the Ryloth system.” Rey smiled. Ben had already started the ship.

“You will be safe.”

“I will be safe.” She turned around and walked back in the freighter. She joined Ben in the cockpit and noticed he sat in the co-pilot seat, his mask off. She gave him a puzzled look.

“I don’t want to sit where who knows what they were doing. I leave that for you.” Rey huffed and then sat in the warm chair and tried not wiggled. Ben gave a deep chuckle.

“Let’s just get going. Turn off the radio. Oh. And the tracker, co-pilot.” Ben gave her a look but did it anyway.

Their take off was incredibly easy. After making it into space and positioned far enough, Rey, as a precaution turned off everything except the necessaries in case the Resistance decided to check for them besides the Ryloth system. And perhaps in what she considered the strangest of all of that’s happened the last couple days, spent a few hours in the cockpit watching the stars and having an easy conversation with Ben. Strange indeed.

* * *

 

“Do you think it’s safe to get to the temple?” They had moved to the canteen for food. Ben looked up from his meal.

“Soon, but we still need time to collect the boars. But we need to be stealthy. Luke doesn’t leave for the faux mission for another few hours and we have to land between that time and the other Knights arrive. Which is only leaves about a thirty minute window because they arrive nearby to wait until I leave to meet up with them to go over the details of the attack.” Ben looked down, his appetite suddenly gone, pushed his meal away and left for the cockpit. Rey waited a few minutes and walked into the cockpit, herself. She placed his plate on his lap when he sat down.

“Eat. I’m not going to tell you everything is okay. But what we’re about to do is a start to make things better. Let’s just focus on the good of this. How many Knights are we dealing with tonight?” Ben took a bite and chewed.

“Only six. We were only dealing with children. There was no need to bring everyone and only the most twisted .”

“Okay. We’ll need to separate and take three each.

“I’ll take younger you.” Ben looked at Rey suspiciously.

“You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not that. Can you tell me in all honesty that you wouldn’t, even on an unconscious level, try to tell yourself know what happened? You’ve already pointed out that we can’t change things, if you allow yourself any piece of truth it could change everything.”

“And you’re not just saying that so you can try and peer into my head as a child for more information.” Rey looked annoyed out of the window and started piloting.

“That Ben is a scared little kid who believed all he was good for was destroying. I don’t have time to put him through more anguish by violating his mind beyond shoving horrific images he was already planning on doing in the first place. It’s a shame his older self doesn’t have the decency to do not violate others.”

“You don’t know-”

“Silence.” And they rode in complete silence on the short stretch of the journey. Beyond their complementary ability to pilot in sync, both were too angry to break the silence.  

They arrived in time to see Luke entering space and going into hyperdrive. Rey silently let Ben steer into the atmosphere as the location of the actual academy was lost to her. He landed the freighter in a large clearing near the mountains, about five miles from the academy. Rey unbuckled and attempted to leave without looking at Ben but he grabbed her hand.

“Truce? We need to focus on this and we can’t let this… disagreement create a disaster.” She angrily sighed and shook her hand away from him.

“Fine. Let’s collect some boars. We only have a few hours before it’s time.”

* * *

 

The collection of wild boars was uncomplicated; however, the complexity came in quieting the boars as simple wave techniques failed to knock them unconscious. Must to Rey’s displeasure, their only option was to kill them now to avoid the boars from breaking their cover. They still haven’t reached comfortable silence between the two when they arrived to the end of the tree line of the academy, the entrance facing the south west of their hideout. Rey silently mourned at her inability to recognize the place.

They stood behind ancient oaks with their dead boars hovering on a transporter further in the forest. Sounds were coming from inside, they could hear children arguing one minute to laughing in the next, unaware of what was about to occur. Rey watched occasionally for movement from the door. Dusk had came and went and it had started to sprinkle. Silence was slowly enveloping the academy.

Then the door opened and a teenage Ben stepped out. He looked exhausted and angry. Giving one last look at the academy, stepped from the entrance and walked towards the other end of the forest. Suddenly the door opened again. Rey heard a girl yell to wait. The older Ben flinched and focused on staring into the forest but Rey looked back at the academy and witness her six year old self chasing the young Ben. She had a paper crown in hand. Teenage Ben tried to keep walking towards the forest but the young Rey started crying, Ben, unable to move forward after that, defeatedly turned back. She walked up to him with a smile and said something the older Rey could not hear but the young Ben bent down and she placed the crown on him. And then he waved his arms and she was unconsciously in his arms. Rey turned back away wanting to cry or scream or both, instead she imitated Ben and stared into the forest. A few minutes passed and then Ben placed his mask on.

_You need to go. We have about twenty minutes before they come. I’ll bring the transporter closer so we can have the children place them in their beds._

_Right._ Rey took a deep breath and ran into the entrance, using the Force to open the door to save time. She stood in the entrance hall and tried to not cry as she still did not recognize the area. As they discussed, she opened herself slightly to allow her presence to be noticed only nearby. And then she yelled both physically and mentally.

“Attention! Please come to the foyer! You are under attack! I am Jedi! Please bring the ones not able to move quickly!”

 _Attention! Please come to the foyer! You are under attack! I am Jedi! Please bring the ones not able to move quickly!_ She was immediately bombarded by untrained students attempting to raid her mind for an explanation but she placed a wall in her mind and watched students half run into the lobby to fight. She stood in a neutral position and started counting as they fumbled in.

“What’s going on?” “I thought Luke was the only Jedi?” “Is this a prank.” “How do we know this isn’t a trap?” “She has a lightsaber, look!” “I bet it’s that Solo kid causing this.”

Hushed whispers reached the group as the children gathered away from her.  A few minutes ticked by and Rey finally reached the totalled number. Her heart sank as she saw how young many of the children were, most not even at the ten years mark.

“I’m sorry, we only have a few minutes. There are bad men coming to kill you. I need you to use the Force and carry some animals into your beds and then wait with the man in the mask. Luke isn’t here. I need to protect you all and I can only do that if you follow my directions, okay? Now who’s the strongest of the group?” Two young boys, both not even fifteen and an adolescent girl stepped forward.She pointed at one of the boys and the girl. The boy and the girl both matched in white hair, with a black streak on opposite sides of their face. “Okay, you need to protect the ones not trained enough to use the Force.” She pointed at the other boy, thin with dirty blonde short cut hair. “You’re going to stay with me and make sure all the beds are covered. Everyone lets go.” Tentatively they followed her out of the academy and Ben met them right outside with the boars. Rey heard a few ‘ewws’ and one of the children started crying.

“Let’s go. Those not old enough or capable of moving a boar stay by the cart. Do. Not. Leave.” The children disperse, the lead boy and girl grabbed the hands of the youngest and had them sit by the cart while they lifted the boars to the other children. Rey and her new helper entered back in the academy with boars and they left for the bedrooms in the furthest end. He didn’t say much and Rey was too focused on her task to noticed.

 _Five minutes_. She hurried back. Ushering any child that was moving too slow. With three minutes to spare, she recounted the children and to her great relief had no one missing. She approached the three top students and looked at them. All of them obviously afraid but refusing to look it. She smiled and lowered herself to their level.

“I need you to take all the children to our craft. It’s a freighter. You need to do it quickly and quietly. Do not try and take off without me, okay?” The girl shifted from guilt as it seemed that was exactly her plan.“You three are incredibly brave and I will make sure Master Luke knows of your bravery.” And then she touched two of the children's’ foreheads and implanted the location of the craft. Once the two nodded, she did the same to the last.

“Go. And don’t look back.” She stood up and pushed the children into the craft’s direction. After the initial sounds of their trespass into the forest silenced she heard new sounds from the opposite direction.

The Knights of Ren were here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent the day editing the previous chapters to correct any grammar issues I missed and I'm taking the day to work on my own personal work, so the odds of an update for 7/17 is pretty slim. Thanks for reading!


	12. AKA The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the two take on the Knights of Ren.

   Ben and Rey were next to each with their backs against the wall of the entrance of the Jedi temple. Unsurprisingly, the Knights silently approaching the temple but the two could still hear the muffled steps inching closer and closer. Rey could feel tension radiating from Ben and looked at him realizing this was the time for him to truly decide if this was the moment to either betray her or betray his master. She could feel his desire to simply flee whisper in the back of her head, not quite eager to want to pick an option. She didn’t see the Knights of Ren but could feel them almost at the entrance, there wasn't much time before the element of surprise was gone. Rey placed her hand into his gloved hand and squeezed, an afterthought of comfort, hoping that he would focus.

_    It’s now or never, Ben _ . And then Rey felt a soft squeeze back. With his decision decision, a wave of calmness washed over him. Ben released her hand and motioned that he was ready. The took off from the wall and exposed themselves to the unsuspecting villains. Only a second of surprise to over take them before the Knights realize the trap. Their reflexes were slow, Ben already knocking unconscious the closest man and Rey had waved her hand over young Ben who collapsed without grace before the rest had managed to grab their lightsabers. Five men to go.

   Rey managed to throw another Knight into the wall behind her, confident of his black out and did not look back. Ben picked up two Knights and banged them against each other, he heard the grunts from them both before they too were knocked out. Their movements were quick and concise, with barely a mere five seconds had passed since the surprise attack. Two more left. 

   The last two finally caught up to their reflexes and initiated their sabers. Both choosing to going after Rey, who was closer. She toggled her switch and her staff activated. She blocked the first attack and Forced pushed the other towards Ben. Ben reached for his lightsaber but he couldn't  wield his lightsaber without giving up who he was, no amount of illusions would make them not remember the uniqueness of it, so he opted for a quicker solution. He quickly yanked his attacker’s lightsaber out of his hand and flung is as fall as he could. The Knight yelled in frustration with cusses coming from the mask. Ben recognized the voice and placed it to one of the weaker knights who Force abilities were weak and their fighting just as weak, whom ironically would be killed in a few months from now due to his own incompetency. He aimed for the man’s known weak spots and quickly took him down. He looked at Rey who was barely able to keep her ground against the last Knight who was savagely and relentlessly attacking without a second pause and with care to the marks Rey's saber had made on her. Ben groaned at his colleague and lifted the focused assailant from the ground. The Knight was so focused on trying to kill Rey that it wasn’t until Ben slammed her into the ground that she realized her mistake and 'umph' with the air that escaped her lungs and was unconscious. Rey looked alarmed at Ben.

_    Ben, what if you killed her? That would change everything!  _ He shook his head. 

_She later says that her broken arm occurred because she slipped over the intestines of a child. She’s_   _fine_ _. _ He walked over to Rey for any obvious injuries, none of which were apparent.  _ Good job, scavenger. You took on a Knight of Ren. Impressive. _ She rolled her eyes

_   You’re forgetting that I took on the Master of the Knights of Ren without being properly trained. _ He grunted and walked to the trees they were at earlier and grabbed two bags, throwing one at Rey and pulling rope out of the other. They set up to tying up the Knights as a precaution but two had already placed all seven in control sleep to prevent a sudden wake up. Ben stepped away, back to the forest line, as agreed earlier. The less the Knights saw of him, the better; however in case they overwhelmed her, he was still near enough to provide assistance.

    Rey carried the first Knight to her by lifting her hand. After taking off his helmet, she waved her hand and he came to suddenly. As a Knight of Ren who went through training with Snoke and was used to suddenly passing out and coming through, the male was already struggling out of the rope but Rey’s Force was stronger than his straining to leave. 

   “Enough.” She said it was such power that the Knight looked at her and stopped.

   “You will kill the beings in the beds. You will only see children as what you kill. You will completely forget this fight and you will only believe you had a complete success with this mission.” He squinted his eyes and laughed, as if this was a joke. Ben stood up straighter but Rey came too far to not have this work. She grabbed the shirt near his neck and pulled closer to her face.

   “ _ I said _ You will kill the beings in the beds. You will only see children as what you kill. You will completely forget this fight and you will only believe you had a complete success with this mission.” He stopped laughing and his eyes glazed over and repeated everything back to her. She looked at Ben who nodded to her.

   “You will return to me when you are done with every body part you create. You will not leave anything.”

   “I will return to me when I am done with every body part I create. I will not leave anything.” Rey untied his rope, gave him a sack. The Knight walked into the temple with his lightsaber on. She repeated it five more times. Each time, a different Knight struggled in a different aspect but each one in the end followed her directions. And then young Ben was left. Her heart dropped but she thought about the children in the freighter and focused.

   She waved her hand and Ben came to dazed, obviously not used to either tactics she used to manipulate his consciousness. He was already tall and lanky with a nose and ears too big for his face, his hair not long enough to cover them. He stared at her angrily, refusing to give her the pleasure of making him talk first. But all she noticed was how sad his brown eyes looked. Without helping it, she had placed her palm against his cheek and he flinched. She remembered the planned and sighed, repeated the same orders to him as she did the others. His eyes glazed and he went into the temple. The sounds of violence already well underway. 

_    I saw that. _ She ignored him and stayed in the center of the clearing waiting for the group to return. She used the time to check the webs of the children. Most of them were back in the freighter but two of the oldest were on their way back. She groaned, aware of what they would witness and made sure to keep tabs on them so she could prevent them from attacking young Ben. She shifted her focused on the returning Knights who each had bloodied bags in hand. They then stood in a single file, waiting. She approached the first Knight. 

   “Take off your helmet.”

   “I will take off my helmet.” Rey placed her index finger over his forehead, ignoring the spray of blood the helmet failed protect from. She looked into his mind for the images that just occurred and manipulated the obvious pig parts into children. It sicken her despite knowing it was fake. “You will go back to your craft, once you all leave you will leave this trance and celebrate the successful mission without ever realizing the truth.” He repeated it back to her and once again Rey repeated the process six more times. She hesitated dismissing young Ben.

   “Where is Rey?” He looked up glazed.

   “Rey is asleep deep at our spot.” She looked for her signature in the Force but couldn’t feel herself.

   “What are you planning on doing with her?”

   “I was going to leave her here for Master Luke to keep safe.” 

   Suddenly time stood still, she couldn’t breathe. Realization hit her heavy into her chest. She had no choice: She couldn’t sacrifice the lives of the children for a better childhood and she couldn't change the past this drastically. A sobbed was stuck in her throat and tears spilled out.  She looked at young Ben and sentenced herself to hell.

   “You will take her to Jakku and leave her there. You will take another ship without the others and spend the trip to Jakku with her. Tell her… tell her you will come back. You will then go to Da’kaa to wait for me” He repeated it back and walked away. She fell to the ground and started heaving. Without having a moment to grieve she felt the two small Forces attempt to run to here with wooden practice sticks. Ben stepped away from the entrance and used his hand to stop their movement but it didn’t stop their accusations. 

   “You can’t protect your son! He’s a monster!” 

   “I knew that Ben was trouble! Are you going to kill us for him?” The children continued yelling at her and lifted her hand and they too fell unconscious. She stared at the dirt, exhausted. Ben approached her carrying both juveniles and looked at her. She didn’t need to the mask off to know he had no idea how to approach her. 

   “I’m fine. Let’s go.” She took the girl. 

 

   In Rey’s opinion, the five miles back to the freighter was the worst part. But maybe it was because she kept hearing the accusations over and over in her head. Was she doing the right thing? Was this the path she was suppose to go on? Has she been wasting time on this instead of just going after Snoke? Was Ben even worth all of this? 

   They walked in silence. It was slow work carrying the children and transporting the bags of wild boars. Eventually they reached a large hole about a half mile from the ship and dropped the bags into the hole that they had created hours before. The freighter was suspiciously quiet but she felt plenty of life force coming from inside. The two trudged in through the entrance and found the lot sleeping haphazardly all over the loading dock area. A majority of them sleeping on each other. Ben silently handed the boy to Rey and went to the cockpit. Rey sat down on the cold metal floor and counted all fourteen.

_    They’re all here _ . Ben took off without delay. The sudden movement though cause one child to awake and suddenly they were all awake staring at the worn out Rey. The eldest two still knocked out. Suddenly she felt tiny hands placed on her arms and felt their energy lazily pushed into her selfishlessly. She smiled and waved her hand to stop them.  _ They’re definitely Jedis. _

_    Did they just try to give you energy? _ She looked up towards the cockpit.

_    How’d you know? _

_    One just snuck in and tried to do that. I’m sending her back and locking the room. _

_    You’re the best. Definitely wanted this many kids _ .  _ Wait. Did she see your face? _

_    The mask isn’t coming off until they’re gone.  _ He focused away from their conversation and Rey looked at all the children who were now circled around her and then braced for the yelling. She waved her hand and both the children woke up with a bolt. The boy, with a part of of his black streak covering his eyes, looked like he was about to scream his head off but then stopped.

   “Wait, you don’t look anything like Ben’s mom.” Rey barely stopped her eyes from rolling but she definitely felt Ben laughing in the cockpit. The girl with matching color hair punched him.

   “Well, no duh. She’s obviously his master. She’s covered in black. She’s from the Dark side.” The children started to scoot away from her as if that itself would be enough to stop someone. She sighed.

   “No, I’m clearly not from the Dark side. Use your gift, girl. Do I appeared to be from the Dark Side? For the most part, I’m very proud of you all.” She looked at the two oldest. The boy had the decency to look away but the girl was defiant. “I was afraid we wouldn’t have been able to save you all.” The girl stood up and walked over to Rey. 

   “If you’re not a bad person, then why were you talking to Ben. Wait.” She looked up into the group suddenly looked desperate. “We have to go back. You didn’t save Rey! She’s six, or as she likes to brag; six and a half, brunette with the oddest buns. Likes to hang out with… oh. Oh no.” Rey was glad her hair was down. But the boy who helped her earlier gave her an odd look.

   “Relax child. Rey will be safe. If you promise not to interrupt me, I will explain what happened, briefly. But I’m afraid, children, your journey has just started.”


	13. AKA Carbonite on a Stick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which step four completes and they separate for now.

   Rey would gladly take battling with twice as many Knights of Ren _and_  without the element of surprise over arguing with children who weren't even in their double digits. Frustration written very plainly all over face. Though the younger ones seemed to regard her not as a threat and had slowly gathered around her and fell back of sleep, including a three year old making her lap his bed. She wondered if their trust was how the massacre was able to be successful in the first place. Rey had only tried to explained the fib that Master Luke realized there was trouble and sent her and her pilot to his students. And obviously, Rey, an obvious Jedi, kept hidden because no one was suppose to know of another trained in the way. That news filled with semi-truths just cause the children to argue against her for stories of her 'grand adventure of being a Jedi', just like Master Luke. It amazed Rey how little children pay attention to their surroundings. However, It seemed during the whole ordeal of arguing with a seven year old that it _is_ possible to go against a quadrant of stormtroopers and still survive left her very done with trying to explain what they have to do now. While she was dealing with the younger children, the older ones bunched together to the other side of the room and discussed what they knew, despite their attempts of whispering, Rey heard every word, especially theories of how Rey was here to drop them into a sun. Stealth missions were definitely not in their future.

 _You probably just need to explain what's going on to them. The younger ones are just too young to really understand._ She sighed and carefully got up, carrying the three year old up. The five adolescents looked up to her.

   “Help me move them to the sleep bay. And then you can run your theories of the ‘big bad woman’ by me.” They all looked at the ground in shame from being overheard but walked up to each of the sleeping children and carefully lifted them up.

   After placing the smaller children together in cots and counting heads again, she motioned for the older kids to follow her. She felt Ben starting to nod off.

_Do you want me to bring a cot to the cockpit?_

_No. The chair works. Wake me up in a few hours._ The last words were drawn out and she felt him already drift into sleep. She arrived back in the transport room with the five teenagers, choosing to sit in the middle of the floor. They conditionally sat around her and she allowed the silence to fall over the group to make them uncomfortable, a few started squirming but the oldest female just continued staring accusingly, quickly becoming Rey’s bane of existence and favorite.

   “What’s really going on?” The blonde boy from earlier spoke. The others looked at Rey for a response, eager to finally break the silence. Not ready to fully go into that, Rey went for a new tactic.

   “Who are all of you? None of you look over fifteen.”

   “I’m Taia. I just turned sixteen, obviously.” The oldest girl spoke. And then pointed to the boy next to her who had followed her back to the academy.

   “This is Nika, he’s fourteen. My brother.”

   “I’m Rhea, fourteen too.” The blonde boy who was the other older boy who helped Rey earlier then spoke up.

   “I’m Kamm. I’m twelve,” said the blue skinned girl with white swirl tattoos on her arms, sitting next to Rhean.

   “I’m Sanni. I’m thirteen. And this is Dalo, he’s also thirteen,” voiced the red headed boy closest to Rey. His friend Dalo was dark skinned with brown hair. She took a deep breath.

   “I’m Rey, I’m twenty-three.”

   Taia spoke excitably. “Really? We have a Rey too! She would love to meet another namesake- except she’s not with her. Are you going to tell us where you put her?” She ended somberly. Rhea laughed at the girl and then pointed to Rey.

   “Taia. She **is** Rey.” Taia rolled her eyes.

   “Rhean, I just saw Rey this evening. She was six and now she’s twenty-three? Yeah, right.” And then Taia looked at Rey for back up. But Rey just put her hands up in defense, she couldn't deny the truth but she wasn't going to explain everything.

   “I’m sorry. That’s one of things I can’t explain to you right now. It’s ancient and complicated. But I came to help as Master Luke asked me to.”

   “Did Ben join the dark side?” Nika said quietly while looking down at the metal floor.

   “Yes.”

   “I knew it! He was always troubled with a attitude problem.” Dalo yelled angrily. He waved his arms to match his frustration. The others nodded their heads in agreement, as though they knew he was always the culprit.

   “You all saw his struggle and choose to ignore it?” She looked at them hard. And they each went sheepish. Until Taia looked annoyed at Rey.

   “You don’t understand! He was always... off. Kept to himself and his tantrums were awful. It didn't matter if we included him or not. And it wasn’t like he didn’t have a family who loved him yet the only friend he had was Rey and looked what happened to her. We aren’t at fault because Ben decided he hated Master Luke and the rest of us.” Taia yelled out. Rey was glad Ben was still asleep, unsure of how he would take an honest opinion. She nodded and Taia sat back down from getting riled up.

   “I’m not faulting you. Ben’s decision to join the dark side was his and his only. Tonight was his test and proof of his willingness to join. I simply made him and the others believe that to be the case.” The teenagers looked at Rey with new found admiration.

   “You used the force to change the mind of, what, six people who are Force users?” Nika said with awe. Rey tried not to blush from their sway of opinions.

   “I had help, but yes.” Rhean looked to the doorway and back at Rey.

   “Who’s the pilot?”

    “Just my… partner. He just wanted to help. Not good with kids though. Don’t worry about him, he’s safe.” She thought of the irony of that statement. “Listen. Ben’s master believes you all to be dead. Both my friend and I are holding your Force from leaving the freighter so he can’t feel your presence, for now. But we can’t keep you here for long. We have to do something drastic that requires you all to make a great sacrifice in order to keep you all safe until we can bring you out.” Kamm looked with tears in his eyes.

   “What about my family?” The others looked at Rey wondering the same thing.

   “I’m sorry. They have to believe you died.” Kamm started crying silently. Rhean put his hand on her shoulder for support. And then spoke.

   “What do we have to do?” She closed her eyes and tried to not think about the years that will pass as the children’s parents grieve, all of them lost out of time.

   “You have to sleep for a little bit.” Kamm stopped crying and looked up. The others looked alarmed.

   “For how long?” Taia whispered.

   “Longer than you deserve. But this is only way to protect you. I can't just send you to the outskirts of the galaxy right now to have you continue training as Ben's Master is still actively making sure you all are dead. When I know it's safe and when he finally believes he's won, Master Luke and I will wake you all up and then train you to fight the Dark Side. Right now, I need your help with the younger ones. If they see you being brave, they will be brave as well.”

   “How are we going to sleep?” Dalo asked.

   “Carbonite. It’ll be quick and protect you from being discovered. Now, you may stay here for a little bit longer to talk. But this has been the only way I could think of saving you all. I do suggest getting sleep but I do not fault you if you would prefer to stay up. However, I need sleep. I promise you that it will work and you are safe. And when this is _all_ over, I will personally take each of you to your families.” Rey got up and silently walked out of the dock, checked on the children in the sleep bay who were, thankfully, still asleep and walked to Ben. She pressed the code into the cockpit and saw Ben sleeping the pilot chair, hearing his breathing through the mask. She plopped into the other chair and allowed exhaustion to finally creep up on her.

* * *

 

   Rey woke up in alert and bolted up from the metal floor. She realized she was in a cockpit and saw Ben awake monitoring their travel in the pilot chair. She realized his coat was over her and he had obviously moved her while she was asleep. 

   “How long was I out?”

 _Barely three hours._ She handed back his coat.

   “Thanks. Did you sleep alright?” He stiffened and then focused on the console.

 _It’s kinda hard to sleep with someone comes in just to snore._ Rey laughed and rolled her eyes.

   “I don’t snore. Plus you’d think that mask of yours had a noise cancellation in it.” She felt him smile and walked to the doorway.

   “I’m going to make food for everyone. You want anything?” And she walked out. A moment passed as she went to the sleep bay.

_Yes. I could eat._

_Alright. How close are we?_ She heard loud noises coming from the sleep bay and was on guard for danger. However, opening the door led her to see all fourteen students playing a game tag in the small room. It was almost funny how serious they were taking it.

 _Another hour._ She cleared her voice and stood straighter in the doorway. It got the attention of one of the students and slowly all the children stopped moving and looked at her. She smiled.

   “Who’s hungry?” Ben flinched from the cockpit at their excitement.

 

    Rey was finishing the last of preparation of the food in the canteen when Taia approached her.

   “We still don’t fully understand the situation, but as you’re obviously aware of everything and since Master Luke seems to trust you, we will trust you too.” Rey smiled.

   “Thank you.” A three year old came up and hugged Rey’s leg. She looked at Taia for help.

   “Sorry, Master. Can’t help you there.” And went back to the table where the rest of the children was sitting.

   She managed in successfully persuading the three year old that the spoon was a better for hugging and was now sitting near the table happily, spoon in hand. She was looking for plates when Rhean came over with plates in hand. She thanked him and started piling food onto each plate.

  “Did you want me to take Ben some food?”

  “No, I will do- Ben isn’t here, Rhean. He left to join the Dark side, remember?” Rhean simply stared at her. She tried to focus on putting the rest of the food on plates.

_Um, help?_

_Just do your best. But no, he can’t take food to me._

_That’s not helpful._ She angrily sighed and looked at Rhean who had now started on taking plates to the children.  She finished with the food and had three plates left. Rhean looked at the third plate and started to grab it.

   “No. He doesn’t want you to bring it to him.”

   “So it **is** Ben.” She bent down to his eye level. 

   “What makes you think it’s Ben? Ben was much shorter than the pilot.” She whispered. His face stood deadpan but responded anyway.

   “Because I understood him and he might be hiding behind a mask but I know his presence, although it is different. I expected him to leave and join the dark side for awhile now. I just didn’t expect him to do all of this damage, he wasn't a Jedi but I never really thought him as evil though. It seems like him to he would try to fix his mistakes. But I would have joined him if he had asked, I don’t exactly feel the Jedi way.” She looked at him with hard eyes. He became defensive and whispered angrily.

   “I wouldn’t have murdered my students! I just would have found a teacher that taught in the ways of the Dark side. You don't understand, Master Luke didn’t either. You all just don’t understand!” He started to step away but she caught him by his arm.

   “Not wanting to be a Jedi doesn’t make you evil, Rhean. If you don’t want to become a Jedi, I understand. You don’t have to. However, you still have to go with the rest and sleep. I still have to protect you and the others. But..." She debated over a thought and then looked back at him. "You can stay with me and together we’ll learn lessons of the ancient ways of the dark side if that gives you peace. But joining Ben is out of the question.” The fourteen year old looked relieved and then confused.

   “You’re a Jedi. Why would you learn from the Dark side?” She smiled and gave him two plates.

   “Just because it’s dark doesn’t mean evil. It’s how you use it that matters. And there’s no reason you have to be alone in the teaching. But it won’t be immediately, will you be willing to fight with me, Master Luke, and the others until then.” He nodded his head feverishly.

   “Okay, it’s a deal. Go knock on the cockpit and give him the food.”

_Rey, no._

_Ben, would you have joined Snoke so easily if someone had just pulled you aside and told you it was okay to not be a Jedi?_

_It’s not the same. I can’t help him. And I thought all of this was to get me to join the light?_

_You only have thirty minutes to give him some peace of mind. It’s not like I’m making you take him when we get back._ She felt his anger rise and fear clouding his mind.

 _Ben. Breathe, you won’t screw this up. It’s okay._ She felt his mind clear a bit and pushed a bit of positive reinforcement before she focused back on her food and the students. She had thirty minutes before forcing them all to lose over ten years of time.

 

   The minutes passed quickly and the children were kept busy, even the older ones helped Rey lead forms. Rhean did not return but she didn’t feel any distress so Rey didn’t worry.

 _I’m about to enter the planet’s atmosphere. Get them in seats._ Rey called attention for the children to head to the transport bay.

_Are you keeping Rhean with you?_

_Yes._ She gave the all clear when the children was settled and felt the dip of the ship. The three year old on her lap giggled at the change of pressure. Nika was next to her and leaned over.

   “Where’s Rhean?”

   “He made friends with the pilot.” The explanation was enough and Nika went back to conversing with his sister. A few minutes passed and she felt the craft reach ground. She was unbuckling belts when Ben with his mask on and Rhean entered into the room and opened the craft’s door. It was dark outside, the factory closed for the night. Ben looked at Rey and nodded.

 _I’m taking Rhean with me and we’ll start the machine and come back to help bubble their force. We’ll be back in five minutes._ They left and Rey blocked the open door.

   “Okay, everyone. We have to take a nap, okay? It’s a really new way to help you sleep really well. When we go outside, we’re going to play the game of who can be the quietest. Winner gets a morning off of training.” There was initial excitement over the prize but then the younger ones looked confused by her first statement and were starting to ask questions when the older ones came up to Rey and stood next to her and gave encouraging smiles to their classmates, saying how tired they were and ready for a really nice nap and how if they won, they'd just go swim in the lake all morning long. The younger ones nodded but wary. The few minutes passed through a tension that the three year old, who had yet somehow _again_ , found his way to Rey’s arms, happily ignored and played with her hair. She felt Ben’s presence and turned around to see him walk back to the loading platform they were on. Rey felt an unknown emotion passed through Ben when he saw her holding a child but focused on the task at hand.

   Rhean looked at his classmates and picked up one of the younger children. The older ones followed suit and the ones old enough to walk towards Ben. Rey followed after. They walked into a run down factory that had clearly seen better days and smelled of rotten food, making only little noises beyond the sounds of walking. Even the three year old seemed to be focused on being quiet. They made a left turn and reached the factory’s carbon-freezing machine.

 _Don’t freak out_. And suddenly both Ben and Rhean waved a hand to the young children were unconsciously and hit the floor. Even the three year old became dead weight in Rey’s arm. They left the four oldest students still awake.

   “Right. Yeah, glad you said something or I would have questioned you not so nicely. Good job Rhean in assisting.” Rey placed the three year old down and looked at Rhean blushing and mumbled.

    “I only put Theo asleep. Nothing impressive.” Taia looked alarmed.

   “Why did you do that?” Rey realizing their reasoning, spoke for the boys.

   “They would have panicked. I think my pilot wanted to give you the option of going before them or after.” Taia and Nika stepped up without delay.

   “We’ll go to make sure it works before the younger ones go.” The others decided to make sure the children were safely protected before going in themselves. Ben pulled a large tray around and the siblings stepped on while looking brave. Rey placed her hands on their shoulder and squeezed. She stepped back and Ben pulled the tray into the large container of carbon liquid. A tense moment passed and then he pulled them up. They were indeed frozen, Taia holding her little brother hands both with a bravado of their faces. They appeared to be fine. He placed them on a transporter and looked up at Rey. She grabbed the three year old and another young child and they then repeated the same actions, two by two until it was just Rhean and one of the unconscious children left. He looked at Ben.

   “Are you sure I can’t just join you now?” Ben lowered himself to one knee and took off his mask.

   “I can help teach you but not now. Rey’s plan is fine. My path is not one you should want to join but with us teaching you, you’ll be stronger and more powerful than any Jedi or Knight. She might be pure light but she’s not dumb. She won’t hinder your teaching to deny your needs.” Rhean looked disappointed.

   “Do you regret joining Snoke?” 

   “No. This was the path I had chosen, the only thing worth focusing on now is tomorrow. And besides, if he didn’t reach me, he would have gone after you.” He stood up and placed his mask back on. Rhean picked up his unconscious classmate and walked over to the new tray.

   “I can’t believe someone so whiny became you.” Ben chuckled through his mask and dipped them in.

 

   It took four transporters to move the carbonite children back into the freighter and the ship obviously didn’t care for such an increase of weight. They secured them in the transport bay and walked to the cockpit. Ben took off his mask.

   “Lucky for us, it’ll only take a few hours with hyperdrive to get to the cave.” Rey laughed and she sat in the pilot chair. “What are you doing? I drive.” She simply started the craft.

    “You’ve been driving for awhile. And I need to know the location beyond the planet being named Da’kaa. You gave the island to me, remember? Plus, you’ll need to give them to me anyway for traveling back” Ben dramatically sighed and went to the co-pilot chair.

   They made it in space and Ben reluctantly gave the coordinates up. After the hyperdrive, they sat and watch their craft sped pass stars on the way to the watery planet. He noticed Rey seemed tense and wasn’t moving beyond just her eyes.

   “Are you okay?” He looked at her. Rey only continued to stare outside. “Rey?”

   “No. But I’ll be fine once I go through a few weeks of meditation and the children are not carbonite anymore.” She sighed and balled up into the chair. “I’m the reason I go to Jakku. If I hadn’t come back, would you have still taken me and leave me there like you planned or was leaving me at the temple always what you planned? It’s giving me a headache on what was meant to be versus what we created. Do we always go back in time or is this future always been what it is? What if the massacre was suppose to happen and because of my determination to fix it, I’ve only created this future? I don’t know, Ben.”

   “You’re just now worrying about that after already going through all of this? Don’t over think this. It’s happened. And think about the students Luke now has to train for the take over Snoke and the First Order.”

   “You’re okay with this?”

   “I told you, I’m following my person to the stars. Who's worth more than this war. Plus now there’s Rhean to make sure he gets proper training.”

   “Speaking of which, I’m not a master. I can’t take on students.”

   “Nonsense. It’s wartime, just don’t kill him.” She rolled her eyes. They fell into comfortable silence for the rest of the trip.

   The exchange of children to young Ben was easier than anticipated. He was sitting on the cove waiting when they crammed the freighter on the beach. The front hitting the waves. She and the two Bens pulled out the children still attached to the transporters and placed them in the cave and returned the transporters into the freighter. With only the directions to dig deep and bury them, she left Ben with his tasked and the flew back in the direction of the Resistance base. Snoke would be arriving to the planet soon for his training and they needed to be well gone before then.

   “Do you have enough energy to transport us back?” They were a few hours from getting near to their final destination when Ben looked over to Rey.

   “Probably. But you probably need to sleep for a bit. Once we return, you’re going to have to leave immediately. Are you ready for Snoke?” The thought of his punishment for letting Rey go made him shudder.

   “I’ll be fine. But I will go work on making sure he doesn’t see anything more than us fighting. Although maybe I should have you manipulate my memories, you’re an expert at this point.” He stood up and she punched him in the shoulder in response.

    She meditated until they were half a lightyear away from the base. She could already see a lot more activity occurring near it by all the spaceships going near it, probably in response to the massacre. She cringed at what heartache was just now occurring, she could lightly feel Master Luke's grief.

_You awake?_

_Is it time?_

_Yes, come to the cockpit._ A few minutes passed and Ben walked in.

   “I need you to go on the radio with a message to tell Poe Dameron to collect his ship. Don’t bother waiting for a response, just come to the canteen. We will only have a few minutes before we’re surrounded and need to be gone.”

   “I figured we’d just leave it and hope they find it.”

   “Nope.” She handed him the mic and walked out of the cockpit. A minute went by and Ben joined Rey with a cocky grin.

   “You said more than what I told you, didn’t you?” Ben just smiled more and placed his mask on.

 _You should have stayed. It was quite colorful._ She just hummed in response and focused on creating the portal. Like earlier, her body was in a lowercase ‘t’ and then she slammed her hands together and their gateway back to their time opened. She motioned for him to go first and quickly followed after him.

   She stepped out to the now familiar smell of ocean to a barely risen sun hitting the trees. She was standing next to a tree trunk about twenty feet from the TIE Fighter, Ben was nearby and took off his mask and gave her an undetermined look.

   “Okay, get going. I’m going to start getting the children out of the dirt before your uncle arrives. I’ll contact you soon for the next step. It’ll be a bit, gotta get these children away. So I’m about to get really busy. But, uh, be safe.”

   Ben approached her, Rey looked up at him with confusion. She was expecting him to already be in the ship. He was silent and looking at her intensely, blocking whatever he was thinking from her. She pressed herself against the tree and suddenly Ben placed his hand above Rey’s shoulder against the tree, leaned down and unexpectedly  placed his lips hard against hers. It wasn’t the most romantic kiss, in fact, it barely lasted a few seconds before Ben pulled back and quickly walked into the TIE Fighter without looking back. All Rey could think while watching it take off was that she didn’t fight him off and the worst traitorous thought of how much she liked the it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far!  
> I was going to avoid adding original characters as I've been trying to keep it closer to what's been already created in Star Wars but this gave me an opportunity to work on showing how they can reach balance within the Force. Also, sorry, Ben's been dropping hints for the last couple chapters that he obviously feels something towards her. I'll let you think on whether it's been there before they met in the beginning on this or just recently since it'll be a few chapters before we really understand Ben's motives. >:D


	14. AKA Intentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey regroups with Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren goes back to his master.

   Rey was digging up the fourth makeshift grave when she felt her master arrive on the island.  She wiped the dirt off her sore hands and headed out of the cave, passing the six of the carbonite students. She followed his Force web for about twenty minutes until she saw a new generation Hawk Freighter engulfing the large meadow in reside in. Luke stepped out and waved out to her. 

   “Rey. I’m glad to see you were work out the conundrum of going back in time.” She looked at him deadpan, obviously not having  it. He rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortably. 

   “I would have preferred finding out from you than from your nephew. It kind of makes a person wonder what else has been left out.” She crossed her arms and Luke sheepishly looked away from her. In a rare moment, Luke went completely serious.

   “I apologize. I felt that by leaving your past out, Ben would have no choice but to feel he _had_ to get involved to prevent your involvement. He cared a great deal about you, like a little sister he never had.” Rey looked into the woods, focused on not turning red. 

   “I spent all these years believing he had you killed with the others to prove his allegiance.  When you showed up three years ago, I saw the ghost of my failures grown up; harden by the unfairness that had happened to you, yet still filled with light.  You remembered nothing prior to Jakku except the subconscious patterns of training.” He stepped away and motioned her to lead her to the cave. “When I locked the connection between you and my nephew, I saw no memories of your times and realized you were alive because Ben showed compassion for you.”

   “Master,  Ben showed compassion because I told him to.” Rey slowly told Luke everything that had occurred since she left; the cave in the mountain, the vision of Finn, meeting Poe indirectly, attacking the Knights. She left out Ben’s kiss out. But talking about the last couple of days made her realized that Ben had been showing her compassion throughout the last of couple days. Silence washed between them as she really mulled over his behaviors. Between giving up his coat both as a comfort after she broke down to having her use it as a blanket in the cockpit; he was constantly trying to guide or help her without actually showing it. Even his sixteen year old self, filled with hate and loneliness, still tried to protect her. She sighed deeply and wondered if she had been more observant the kiss wouldn’t have been a surprised. Master Luke looked at her quizzically as she worked out through the complexity of Ben but she shook her head and gave him a shovel.

   “There's three more to bury out. I assume you brought the freighter to carry them, right? We’ll need to suppress their Force once they awake and get as far away to the edge of the galaxy.” He grunted as he started on one of the graves.

   “I’ve got that covered. I managed to talk an old friend to give up his carbon-freezer for a bit. And I know of a planet though it’s a little warm. I spent some time there when I first started my exile. But it’ll work to keep them hidden while we train them.” She lifted her head from the hole she was already working on.

   “I’m not ready to teach. Especially I’ve only been training for three years. And some of these children are only a few years younger than me. And what about taking down the First Order.” 

   “You’re a master of Timewalking. I think at this point, length of training does not matter for you but if it makes you feel better- you had the three years before the almost- massacre, too. And we knew we weren't ready to take on the First Order today or tomorrow, having additional Jedis would be beneficial. And I'm getting old, I can't take on so many students at once. ” Rey rolled her eyes and went back to digging. Her body had started to sting in random areas but she chalked it up to the strain of her muscles. Then she remembered Rhean.

   “I want to take in Rhean.” This time Luke stopped.

   “You don’t have to take a problem student as your very first student. You have nothing to prove.”

   “He’s not a difficult child.”

   “He’s easily swayed to the dark side. If I didn't feel his life Force disappeared, I would have thought he would have joined my nephew.”

   “That’s specifically why I want him. Maybe denouncing their desires for learning the dark side was part of the problem. If we guided them to do what’s right for the Force- does it really matter that they want to embrace the Dark side?”

   “Yes.”

   “Despite the fact that a dark force was the only way to save your students, your nephew? You’re well aware that time walking is obviously a dark art. I was taught  **by** the original Force user, who believed in the use of both sides.”

   “That is a different matter. She entrusted you with it because she knew you would not be swayed by it’s power.” 

   “You’ve been teaching me the world isn’t black and white, yet believe there’s only two types of Force users? To expect all these students to come out pure light is setting up students for failure and force those who aren’t to alienate themselves away. Master, it’s creating a unnecessary war between two groups who could truly bring bal-” Rey looked up to see Luke giving her a smug look. “Master, I will punch you in your face so incredibly hard that you’ll go into another exile.” Luke gave a deep laugh.

   “If I had known spending a few days with Ben would have finally brought you to see my point, I would have encouraged it sooner. Rey, I’ve spent over a decade with only myself to realize the errors of my teaching. I focused so much in bringing back Jedis without realizing the Force wants balance- not just those in light. When confronted with that truth, I simply ignored it. Perhaps if I had someone who countered my light to help, I could have been the true person to bring balance. Hmm.” He gave her a knowing look and went back to shoveling. “But yes, Rhean will do well with you. I assume you’ll be bringing him when you start the next step so he can learn from Ben as well?” She climbed out of the hole and used the Force to lift up the carbonite fourth pair. Her body started to stiffen up from the pain radiating across her body.

   “Master, the first thing I’m doing once we get the children to the new training ground is sleeping for a solid week.” Luke chuckled as she suddenly passed out from the dangerously intense pain coming all over.

 

_    “Explain yourself.” Rey was standing in the corner of a very large dark room, her body was frozen. In front of her stood Snoke, ancient and terrifying, looking over to Ben Solo on his knees, his mask tossed twenty feet away. Ben's face gave nothing away.  _

_    “Master, the girl contacted me saying she was ready to defect, as I reported to you prior to traveling to Takodana. But she had laid out a trap, killed my men, and then blocked my ability to use the Force. She was prepared and destroyed the tracker in the TIE Fighter. I underestimated her. _

_   “She was trying to get me to follow the Light, believing that my pathetic uncle was right that I still had a chance to come back. Clearly not aware of all the powers you have given me. I, instead, tried to get her to join me. She still has potential and the skill she used to limit my Force was definitely from the Dark side. During the two days, I realized she refuses to join simply because it was the lowly Resistance that supposedly helped her leave her planet. The girl eventually admitted she was not interested in staying a Jedi. Now that she has chosen to show herself, I can work her into desiring all that you can offer her. However, she escaped when she was no longer able to block my powers.” Snoke studied his face for any inconsistencies but having found none simply gave a devious, disgusting smile. The air was thick with evil when he spoke. _

_    “I have a better plan. The girl shows too much light even after her suppose use of the dark side. For all you know, your pathetic uncle desperately taught her that trick for you to believe in her story. I feel her growing stronger every day. I’m afraid the chance to have her join ended when you failed on Starkiller. She needs to die. _

_    “But not before using her.  _

_    “Seduce her- do whatever means necessary, I don’t care. Get her with child, then kill her. Imagine the power the child will have. Oh yes. A child born for darkness” Ben looked uninterested and neutral.  _

_    “As you wish, Master.” Ben stood up and begun to walk to his mask. Snoke looked annoyed. _

_    “Ah, we’re not done. We still have your punishment for letting her go. If you had just overtaken her, you could have brought her back and we could already be working on creating the next generation.” Without a delay, Ben was thrown ten feet hard against the solid rock wall. He gave no cry of pain but simply a gasp for losing the air from his lungs. He stood up and allowed Snoke to rag-doll him into another wall, twenty feet away. It went on with a few more time until he was finally thrown into the wall near Rey, not once crying out from the pain. He did not get up and was nearing unconscious when Snoke seemed to lose interest and walked to the grand doorway. _

_    “Do not fail me again, I grow tire of your constant failure.” He mumbled that he wouldn’t fail again and Snoke left. Ben looked at the corner Rey was in and waved his hand and suddenly she could move. Without thought she ran to him and fell to the ground next to his battered body, unsure of believing which truth he’s provided. He simply looked at her and placed his hand over hers and fell unconscious.  _

 

   Rey awoke surrounded by six pairs of carbonite children in sand. Slowly taking in the environment to realized she was back in the cove. Master Luke stepped out of the cave with the last two children floating behind him. 

   “I see you’re awake again.” She tried to get up but her muscles had given up on her. “Don’t, Rey. Let yourself rest a bit.” She gave an angry laugh.

   “What a time to have a pointless vision when my body is already beyond exhausted.” He gave her a concerned look.

   “Are you sure that was a vision?” Rey looked confused.

   “Of course it was a vision. I wasn’t seen… I, wait.” Luke sat on the sand next to her. 

   “Has this happened before?” She stayed silent for a minute thinking to any weird visions.

   “I think he saw me when I saw him saving Finn.” Luke stayed silent for a moment, obviously bothered by this information.

   “I believed you just timewalked without your body. Your body glowed as your portal does. Does anyone else acknowledge you besides Ben?” She slowly sat up.

   “No. But I think this one just happened. He was with Snoke being punished.” She looked down and balled up. 

   “Perhaps your Force bond is causing these morphs of visions. You were probably pulled because of his pain. It could be the Force bond or him just pulling you in that causes only him to see him. It seems you only went a few minutes in the past though. But I don’t know. I barely understand this time walking ability. Did Lux Tenebras mention any side effects like this?” He stood up and helped Rey to her feet, who had started to have control over her body again. He kept his arm linked with her as they started back to the ship.

   “No. I don’t think I even mentioned the Force bond to her. It had been a year since we blocked it so I had already forgotten it was even there. But there’s worse things to focus. We need to leave for the edge of the galaxy now; Snoke just decided to officially called for my death and have me produce a child with Ben to create a powerful dark user.” Luke stopped moving and looked at Rey in alarm.

   “What? In that order? Does he know you can’t conceive while dead?” Rey punched him as hard she could into his ribs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help but include sarcastic Luke who would definitely choose to be snarky at such a moment instead of surprised. But maybe I'm just thinking of Mark Hamill. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying the ride! Feel free to comment.


	15. AKA Illusions of Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey attempts to find answers.

   “Did you talk to Leia?” Rey was sitting in the co-pilot seat, changed back into another blue attire Luke brought with him. They were deep in space on their way to their new training ground but even with hyperdrive. it would still be six days before arrival. Luke stretched from his own chair.

   “I did. I’m sorry. I did not speak to your friend, Finn. But I did hear some information while on base.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty credit and placed it in Rey’s hand. “Poe did indeed ask. While in the middle of fighting out their last mission surrounded by stormtroopers, if you would believe it. Accidentally hit his radio too so everyone in the radio tower heard him fumble through it. Leia did give me a copy if you want to hear it.” Rey laughed and shook her head.

   “I told you. He’s a hopeless romantic underneath that rouge personality. Of course, he’s going to ask when they’re in the most danger. I had... wanted to go check up on them after this but between all these ‘new’ students and Snoke’s declaration- I definitely need to stay off the radar.” She got up and followed Luke to the canteen.

   “Unfortunately, I doubt the Resistance can afford to to allow them the cumulative days it would take to travel. But I’m sure they will hold off the celebration for you. But back to my sister. She’s aware that you and I are doing something requires us to be gone for sometime, I did not want to give her any false hope about Ben so I left out the details. She will pass that info along to your boys so they don’t become heroes and start searching for you.” Rey smiled warmly and grabbed food from the pantry.

   “Well, that’s good. I’m going to go meditate now for a bit. I have a lot to work through.” He nodded and started messing with a halo deck in front of him. She walked through the claustrophobic hallway until she found a spare room she would claim as her room. The room itself was small with only a tiny bed and an equally small fresher that would barely fit her. Rey was tempted to just climb on the mattress and let exhaustion claim her but she needed to an illusion of peace, or even just answers before succumbing to any nightmares that were sure to be waiting. She sat crossed leg against the bed and closed her eyes. And begun to look for his signature web that was awfully close to her own presence and followed it. It took a few minutes before she saw him asleep in a large barren room and decided to instead check on her friends and turned away.

 _Wait._ And suddenly she was pulled intp Ben’s mind.

  _Rey stood on pavement in the middle of a small street. Tall buildings surrounded her, giving her the illusions of a city but no one was around, except for Ben who sat in front of an outside table._

_“A city is the template for you mind?” She took the chair across from him. He had a strange look over him._

_“I grew up in the city before I was taken to join my uncle. It never really left me. Although apparently you also feel that way about your desert.” He smiled and Rey scoffed._

_“I hate the desert.”_

_“Yet keep it apart of you?”_

_“You know, I think we have more important things to discuss.” Ben suddenly looked uncomfortable and looked away. “I meant about Snoke.” He looked relieved._

_“Ah, yes. Don’t go in any of my bases, word has already gone around to be aware that you are to be captured alive at all cost. I won’t be able to keep you alive if you’re physically here.”_

_“You didn’t look concerned.”_

_“You expected me to show my true emotions?”_

_“Do you ever show your true emotions?”_

_“Of course not.”_

_“You’re starting to annoy me, Ben.” He looked amused and she spoke again,_ _“did you see me there?”_

_“Obviously. You moving would have distracted me so I stopped you. You need to start controlling your powers, Rey.”_

_“How do I control them when you were responsible for pulling me in that? That was all you, Ben. I didn’t just show up because I felt it or felt your pain.” Ben’s face kept his blank, Rey narrowed her eyes. “You know what happened, don’t you?”_

_“Once you explained you could time walk, I put the pieces together.”_

_“I’m guessing I’ve done this to you before?” He looked from the table to her, amusement gone._

_“You’ve been causing me trouble since I first met you. But the first time you showed up, I tried to attack you and it didn’t go well. If I wasn't caught off guard, I would have noticed you didn't looked fully there. So when I saw you three years ago, I thought I finally able to end my nightmare. It never occurred to me it was... I didn’t expect to meet you all grown up.” She rolled her eyes._

_“Glad to see I was such a positive experience for you.” He rolled his eyes._

_“Any other questions, scavenger?”_

_“I very clearly do, Ben. But I think the one that concerns me the most is how long do we have until Snoke becomes desperate?_

_“He’s already reached desperation. You’ve been hindering any real progress for the last three years. I’ve been expecting him to start sending assassins for awhile now. But I think this latest idea is just him hoping to gain any power you can pass down before killing you. You’re simply too much of a threat for him. I’m sorry.” Rey looked away into the empty road and silent city._

_“Are you okay? That was quite a beating.” Ben laughed bitterly._

_“I’m already healed. It doesn’t matter.”_

_“How did you think joining him was right?” Ben abruptly stood up and the city vanished into a vast ocean that spread as far as the eye could see, despite nothing standing out about this ocean, it felt familiar to Rey. The table and chair Rey was still positioned on top of the water. They stayed there in silent while the water around them moved._

_“I don’t expect you to understand.” His hair followed the soft wind and watched two sea creatures in the far distance jumping waves together. “I wanted more. I wanted to be powerful. My mother has the Force and does nothing with her abilities. My father was a smuggler who married a princess. I wanted to be more than my name and becoming a Jedi would not accomplish that.” She stood from her chair._

_“That’s ridiculous.” He turned back to her and moved to only a few feet from her._

_“If you’re hoping for me to come crying to you that I’ve made a horrible mistake, it’s not going to happen.”_

_“That’s pride speaking.”_

_“Of course it is. But it doesn’t change anything. I am Kylo Ren. Father killer. Destroyer of worlds.  I may not have killed my classmates but it wasn’t because I changed my mind. It was because of you. I am not good. I am not light. I cannot be saved.” He closed the gap between the too and Rey became conscious of their closeness. “You. You’re my-” He stopped and moved away, turning his back at her. Rey gave an annoyed scoff._

_“I don’t understand what I have to do with you.” Ben looked backed at her, emotionless._

_“Just get to wherever my uncle is taking you all. Contact me again when you’re prepared for the next part in your plan or when you get a baseline of Rhean’s skills. It’s been too long for me to remember where he’s at.”_

_“No, I’d prefer if we talk about this now and the ki-”_

 

   And suddenly she was back in her new room. Rey gave a frustrated cry and tried to reach him again but only hitting a wall against him. She stormed out of her room and started walking towards where she felt Luke was at and then abruptly stopped. She was tired, sore, and annoyed. Going to her master wasn’t going to help any of that and so she quickly stomped back to her room and fell face first into the small bed, her feet hanging over.

   She thought of colorful things to say to Ben the next time she had the displeasure of having to speak to him again as she fell into uneasy sleep. 

* * *

 

    Rey awoke to the sudden sound of her door opening as Luke entered her room. She threw her precious pillow at him, he simply swat it away with the Force and laughed.

   “Can’t believe I forgot how cranky you were. You’ve been sleeping for two days, Rey. Come on. I’ve grown tired of talking to children who can’t talk back.” She groaned and pointed at the door. Luke took the hint and left while Rey stumbled out of bed and she squeezed into the fresher.

   Hunger was what brought her out of the hot water and she joined Luke in the canteen. A meal already set out for her. She sat down across from her and started eating.

  “So I think we need to stop by before heading to the new grounds. There’s a large city two days away that we can grab supplies… and there’s a large black market since it’s the last place to really getting anything before reaching the end of the galaxy. I think if you’re going to allow Rhean to study the dark side, we should be checking for any dark artifacts that can provide any lessons or teachings. But we absolutely can’t get spotted here. It’ll make Snoke wonder what we’re doing out here and could send more to check out, among other things. As such, I would suggest you stay in the freighter while I grab supplies.” She narrowed her eyes. “Sometime during the two days you were sleeping, your friend Snoke, has placed a bounty for you, alive. But as you’ll just ignore that and go anyway, you need to at least wait until I return with supplies. We can’t leave the vessel vulnerable for someone to discover the students.” She contemplated the new information and chewed.

   “Okay. Just out of curiosity, how much is he offering?”

   “Oh, not much.” Luke dragged his halo deck in front of her and clicked the display to show a picture of Rey from a camera video feed taken during a raid on a First Order Base, with a bounty for seven billion credits.

   "Not much, my ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bit short, but the next one will be a bit busy :D


	16. AKA Into the Streets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey goes in search of dark objects in the slums.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used a few different cannon Star Wars creatures so here's a link for a more detailed description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_creatures

   “Perfect, you look like trouble.” Luke Skywalker looked over Rey who was now covered in black attire she wore only a few days ago, her hair braided and falling down her back. Luke had already gone out for supplies and returned with the new black cloak that he draped over her shoulders. Its deep hood allowed most of her face to be darkened preventing anyone from easily recognizing her. Her lightsaber was hiding inside the cloak, tied back to her belt, in case trouble found her. Rey looked plain and ordinary but gave the aura to back away.

   “Trouble? I thought we were aiming for invisible.” She placed the hood over her and walked to the the freighter’s door.

   “Yes, well, you’re heading to a dangerous place. If you look weak, someone might try to take advantage of you. You remember the directions I gave you? It took quite a bit of persuasion to get it.” She sighed and turned back to him.

   “Relax, master. I’ve been through worst. Nothing is going to happen and besides I doubt I'll find much anyway. However, if it makes you feel better, I’ll send a message through the Force if I run into anything dangerous. But really, I’m sure my persuasion skills should dodge trouble." She smiled without effort and turned back. "I’ll be back within two hours.” And left without waiting for a response.

   Rey followed the crowds who were walking leisurely down the streets as she listened for anything unusual. She watched a pair of children skip behind their parents and felt a pang of envy. Suddenly, Rey felt Ben’s presence swell in her mind and passively acknowledged him, still annoyed by his behavior.

 _Rey._  Rey took a right into a darken alley. She felt his annoyance and his eventual suppression of it. Rey was almost impressed enough by his control to stop her own irritation. Almost.  _You can continue this silent treatment another time. Where are you?_  There was a gradual shift of types of people that were slowly trickling in and out of the streets. There were no children or families stopping at store windows but individuals swiftly going to their destinations, not making eye contact and .

 _In the Ssi-Kaat System grabbing supplies. What do you want?_ She made a left turn to another passageway.

_In the Unknown Regions?_

_Obviously._ She came across a shady building. Attached to a horizontal post haphazardly was a wooden sign of a crude drawing of half-filled mugs. She looked around for anyone and saw nothing.

 _What are you doing?_ She sat on the least broken stool in front of the bartender; a Zabrak mix with a bored expression as he cleaned mugs with a dirty towel. The bar was empty with only two other humanoids who sat in a booth on the other side of the dingy bar. It still took a awhile before the bartender acknowledged Rey.

   “Can I help you… miss?” He placed his hand-towel down and looked at her.

   “I’d take Drave pint.” She looked up without revealing her face. The Zabrak's face lighten up with interest and leaned down.

   “Fresh out miss.”

   “Will you double check? I’ve been traveling all the way from Mustafar.”

   “As you wished, but maybe you would prefer to enjoy it downstairs?” He gave a devilish smile and laid his left hand out to follow her. Rey nodded and got up and gave one last look at the two patrons who seemed too interested in their conversation to noticed them

 _Rey. There’s no such drink as Drave._ She ignored him and his growing concern built up in the back of her mind. The Zabrak opened up the kitchen door and walked into a shallow hall that led them to a door-less room filled to the brim with pantry, on the floor was trapdoor. The bartender lifted the hatch that displayed a stone stairway into darkness. He gave her a wicked look.

    “I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for. Feel free to come back for another drink, for you, it's on the house.” She walked passed him without a word and entered stairway. The bartender closed the hatch when she was halfway down and darkness smothered her. Rey continued down the quiet hall.

_Rey._

_What can be made from the letters of Drave?_  She continued the dark hall and listened at the increased sound coming from the end of the hallway.

_It was a code word using ‘Vader’? You’re heading to an underground market… Your face is everywhere. How do you expect not to get caught?_

_I’ll be fine. Stop distracting me._ She reached the end to a wooden door with light coming out of the frame. Rey stepped out into an outside market, surrounded by disintegrating buildings leaving very few exit. It wasn't extremely large but was stuffed with tents and tables. She monitored the few entrances as she looked into the crowded street of unfriendly, sketchy customers and equally unfriendly merchants who stared at passing buyers as if determining their worth. The streets smelled awful as if it was also decaying with its building. She walked from the door and allowed herself to follow the crowd, not quite close enough to be near each booth but enough to see each table without falling into merchants views. She could feel Ben’s uneasiness increased and was half tempted to block him. Someone was watching her but Rey continued walking on as if she felt nothing.

   Until she felt an unusual pulse. She moved to a tent and stood in front of a tent with trinkets and various skull heads. The object pulsing was a palm size stone that was half hidden behind a broken mask. Rey didn’t rush towards it and simply walked around and picked up miscellaneous objects with feigned interest. The merchant stared at her hungrily and eagerly for a sale. The stone, seemingly annoyed by its ignorance, increased its pulse until Rey no longer disregard it. She tossed the broken masked, giving an vexed aura when the trader tried to call out against her. The rock was pulsing almost to human’s heartbeat pace. Rey placed her hand over it and studied it.

 _Silence._ The stone complied. She looked at the merchant who had a mixture of fear and greediness across his face.

   “I want this rock. How much?” He stepped closer and she stood up straighter causing him to freeze.

   “Eighteen hundred credits.”

   “No. Eight hundred.”

   “It’s a very valuable stone with great history. Eighteen hundred.”

   “It’s a tiny pebble that would barely function to be placed over your grave. Six hundred.”

   “That’s a steal!”

   “It’s a rock you lazily left behind a broken mask. I can easily move to another merchant. One who actually understand values. Four hundred, last offer.” He stood there trying to appeared in control and then just sighed angrily.

   “Six hundred credits.”

   “Fine. She tossed the credits to him and as he counted she quickly placed it in her pocket, her hand blocked its light as it reacted from her touch. He looked up happy with the transaction. She felt his thoughts of ripping him off as he considered the ordinary rock he had simply pulled from the ground outside his hunt. She walked up to him causing the merchant to panic and stepped back. Rey waved her hand. “You will forget who you sold the stone to.” His eyes glazed.

   “I will forget who I sold the stone to.” She walked out and back into the crowd. The stone stayed silent.

 _You do seem in control of this. Are you looking for object to help guide Rhean with?_ Rey rolled her eyes and continued walking. Tentatively feeling around for any other Force touched items and kept her Force as low as possible to not draw the attention to any Force-sensitive beings.

_Don’t you have better things to do than watch me?_

_I just finished for the day filled with meetings. One of which required sending hunters to different parts of the galaxy to find you._

_Any coming to the Unknown region?_

_Yes, three of the dumber ones. You’ve felt far away so I assumed you were heading there._

_Thanks, I guess._ She refocused on her task, occasionally feeling eyes on her as she walked around. She was starting to worry about that presence but carried on.  _You don’t need to keep monitoring, go, I don’t know, break a console or something . Master Luke will pick my Force if I run into trouble._ She felt him growl.

 _I will leave once you’re out of there. And there’s no reason to pick a fight with me. Pushing you out has not been the worst thing I’ve done._ She scoffed back at him and walked faster.

 _Fine._ She felt a soft pull on her Force and followed it. This time it took her in between tents into a narrow back alley aligned with texts, rolls, and books. A female trader covered in brown fur was talking to a client who was holding a few books their arms. The trader looked away towards Rey and acknowledged her with a nod. Rey followed the same tactic as she had done with the stone and looked interested in a few battered books. Most books contained information on murder and torture among other dark tactics with the occasional faux history book that various governments had created.

   She, with annoyance, kept one of the books that discussed war strategies that Ben ‘indifferently’ seemed interested in but pleased she did not place it back down. She grabbed a tattered roll with images of different poses of meditation for herself. The female merchant seemed to keep a close eye on Rey's behavior. Eventually, Rey determined no other books legitimately held her interest and went to the pile of battered books that one of them seemed to now have a tight hold to her force. Rey grabbed the third book from the top that gave the appearance of bland and unimportance. She opened its pages to find it filled with a written language she did not recognized but knew it ancient. She sighed and closed the book and placed it with her small pile, walking up to the small merchant who now gave Rey her full attention with a blood curdling smile.

   “Ah, you seem like the type who kill those who get your way.” Rey did not respond but gave the books to her to say her price. The dealer looked over the books and looked back at Rey, still hidden behind the hood. “Going after someone?”

   “For my partner’s birthday.” The small trader laughed.

   “Shame. You must not like him very much, these are all out of date.” Rey laughed back.

   “Hate the guy. Maybe he’ll take the hint with these. How much for the collection?” The merchant gave a chilling smile.

   “You’ll have to come back and tell me how he takes it. I’ll sell them for six fifty credits.” She reached to grab the credits.

 _Rey. Don’t try to use the Force to make her forget her. She’ll figure it out._ Rey didn’t react to his statement but slowed her reach.

_How do you know?_

_She looks part Talortai. They’re sensitive to the Force. You’ve been using yours too low to pick up but she’ll figure it out if you directly use it on her. It’s not worth the risk especially if she hasn't seen your face._ Rey pulled out the coin purse and grabbed the exact credits. The Jedi stayed silent as the merchant counted and then handed her the books. Rey quickly walked back into the market but not before hearing the female yell towards her.

   “Don’t think too much on the blood you’re about to spill!” Rey controlled her speed and swallowed the initial fear and tried to radiate annoyance. The girl’s laughter rung in her ears as she blended into the crowd.

_Get out of there._

_Agreed._ She looked for an exit and found one between tents, thirty feet away. She felt the same eyes fall over her and continued walking slowly towards to exit but started to bubble with panic.

 _Breathe._ She counted her breaths as she went through the alleyway. Rey found herself into an empty street and started heading north. She cast her Force out to give Master Luke a warning to prepare for take off and in doing so felt two life force behind her. Rey quicken her pace. It wouldn’t be a long walk back to the crowded and she allowed her Force follow the webs of beings behind her. They were quickly gaining behind her and she made her choice.

   Rey turned right into an alleyway, allowing it’s darkness to engulf her as she walked further in. She felt the pairs step clumsy follow her. When she reached it’s dead end, Rey dropped her bag of books and turned around, on edge. She recognized the pair from the bar as two male Mandalorian and Twi’lek approached her. They barely appeared older than her, both carried weapons.

   “What do you want?”

   “You’re that girl the First Order wants.” She rolled her eyes, Ben tensed up.

   “So?” 

   “So, we need you to come with us.”

   “That’s not going to happen. You will walk away and forget you saw me.” The men looked at each other and started laughing and walked closer to her.

 _Rey. You have to kill them. You let them go and they will report your sighting. Manipulation isn't going work, look at their faces. They're wearing a thin silver crown. That's a Bounty Hunter band. It's specifically designed to mix up the Force._ The two stepped closer to her, she stepped back confused such a device even worked. She placed her hand over the cloak where her saberstaff resides. _No. Lightsaber wounds are easy to determine._

   “Come on. We’ll be nice. Can't risk you dying on us. And we really need the money. It’s a good thing we followed you from the bar, don’t think anyone else noticed you.” The Mandalorian smiled viciously. She moved to the left and they both blocked her. 

   “I’m pretty sure it said I was dangerous. Even the two of you coming at me once won’t hinder me leaving this alley alone.” The two looked at each other in concerned but moved towards her in faux confidence. The little space between them was closing in.

 _Scavenger._ She ignored Ben and tried to circle around them. The Mandalorian lifted his club and tried to strike her as the Twi’lek swung his wooden staff. Rey blocked the club and allowed the staff to unprotected against her side, unable to block both at once. With sudden true confidence, the Twi’lek swung again. This time aiming for her head. The Mandalorian released the club still in her hand and tried to punch her. She ducked while yanking the staff from the attacker’s hand. Quickly, Rey kicked her leg under the Mandalorian’s feet. He fell and hit his head against the wall; staggering to get back up as Rey brought the staff and charged at the Twi’lek. He blocked with his bare arm and stepped closer with the intention to attack her with brute strength alone.

   They exchanged punches and kicks as Rey used the staff to block and occasionally get a direct him. She focused on bringing him down without maiming as she figured how to get out of this situation. Their fight was nothing for Rey as she stretched the length to gain additional time to find a non fatal way out of this. She wasn't sure of how attacked those bands were into their skulls, if yanking them out would still cause death. But then they would know something happen by their bands no longer on them.

 _REY._ Ben screamed into her hand as the Mandalorian snuck up behind her and hooked his arms around her armpits. It blocked her movement in her arms as it pulled her hood down as she struggled, revealing her face. The Twi’lek smiled broadly and proceeded to kick her straight into her chest. Air rushed out her mouth as she was punched in the jaw. Blood oozed from her lips and dripped onto the ground. She felt Ben’s desperation as she started feeling the effect of his now second kick. She closed her eyes, angry at herself for her next action. 

   Suddenly the Twi’lek stopped smiling and stepped back unable to breathe, fear radiating from his life force. The Mandalorian lessen his gripped from his same struggle and she pulled out of his clutched. Rey turned around and faced the Mandalorian and with heavy heart lifted her hand and squeezed her fist. The man fell to his knees and faulted to the ground, dead before reaching it. She felt the Twi'lek approach her and felt a sharp pain in her ribs a blade now deep into her. Rey lifted the Twi'lek well above her, closing his throat for good. He accepted his fate and closed his eyes, while unintentionally sharing the memories of a son who would never again greet him at the door nor his expecting wife to gift him, yet another, awful handmade sweater. The lost of his best friend, the godfather of his unborn daughter, who laid motionless steps away from them. Tears flowed from Rey as she closed her fist and he too no longer lived. She stood there for a moment, feeling the blood starting to drip from her side. Rey reached for the wooden staff by her feet, breaking it against the wall. She took each end and stabbed deep into their bodies giving the illusion of cause of death and slowly staggered away, bag of books in hand.

   She left the blade in her to prevent it from flowing more blood. Her mind focused only on getting back to craft while screaming into the Force to tell Luke to get ready to take off. The walk was painful, feeling Ben’s attempt to use his own Force to numb it for her. She placed her hood back over her as she once again join the crowded streets. Rey felt no one laid eyes on her as she walked into the lot where Luke was.  

   The walk into the freighter barely registered to Rey. Rey pulled out the blade from her ribs, the knife fell with a clack to the ground. She didn’t acknowledge Ben desperate attempt to reach her as she stumbled into the hall towards the first aid room. Her mind racked with shame and failure. Luke’s worries and impatience to finish getting the freighter into autopilot, the guilt already enveloped in his Force for letting her go out followed her. She wobbled into the medic room and blacked out as she fell to the floor. Her mind swam in blackness as she felt Ben’s presence try to wrap around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far! Feel free to comment. :)


	17. AKA Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey is challenged to move pass her own flaws and they reach the new training ground.

   Rey awoke sore with Luke Skywalker sitting at a chair against the wall, scrolling through halo pad. She closed her eyes again and timidly reached out to Ben but felt steady breathing from him and withdrew to prevent his own consciousness. She leaned up and felt bandage wrapped tightly across her ribs. She looked down and noticed most of it was stained with dry blood. Luke stood up and closed the pad.

   “‘Nothing’s going to happen’ she says. And then she lets a poisoned knife make friends with her ribcage. I don’t even know how you made it back here.” He looked over and unraveled the bandage.

   “I’m just that awesome?” He smacked the back of her head. “Hey! Injured, remembered?” Luke just shook his head and exposed an ugly bright red scar with tinted blue flesh surrounding the wound. 

   “What happened?”

   “I got stabbed.” Luke rolled his eyes and placed his palm directly on the wound, allowing his Force to begin another healing session. “There was two bounty hunters at the bar. I guess they decided I was worth following. And by the time I realized they were following me, I couldn’t risk just ditching them and have them report that I was seen there so I led them into an alley.” She looked away from Luke. 

   “They had a band around their heads. Have you heard of something blocking the Force?” Luke moved his hand away and she laid back down.

   “I’ve heard a few rumors of such a device existing, but nothing more. I didn’t think much of them. We all carry the Force. I didn’t believe anything could block the Force from manipulation.”

   “I don’t think it stops the manipulation of them except any manipulation that goes to the mind. I couldn’t use the Force to persuade them to leave or change their memories. But I could definitely use it against them.” She looked towards the wall and paled from shame. “They had a family.” Luke sighed and sat back down.

   “Rey. Don’t go down that path again. We’ve talked about this. Being a Jedi requires sometimes going beyond your own personal desires and values for the greater good. Saving them would have endangered the students and endangered yourself.” Rey balled up, facing the wall. “They took the risk by going after you. You did what you had to do.” She didn’t respond.

   “Tell you what? Let’s get you into the kitchen and eat. The wound should be fine for some moving but it’ll take awhile before the poison fully leaves your system. Plus, I’m sure Finn would like to chat.” Rey sighed and sat up. She avoided Luke gaze but she knew he exhausted with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. She tried to swallow the additional guilt of making him worried and swung her legs over the table onto the cold ground.

  
  


   “And then he turns back with that damn smug look on his face with stormtroopers closing in on us. I mean, we’re in the middle of trying to get out of the base with a really important file to return to the general and he has the audacity to take my hand and pop the question?” Rey chokes on her food from laughter and looked at the hologram Finn with a grin.

   “I’m guessing you said yes after getting to a safe location?”

   “I was but then Phasma comes out of nowhere and I freaked screaming yes before she could ruin the moment anymore than some troopers who can’t aim (not that I’m complaining) are already doing so. I seriously don’t understand how she never dies. I think this is the eighth attempt. Her tenacity is impressive. But anyway, we sprint back to our ship when BB-8 pulls out a gold band from inside his machine and Poe is just beaming like he had this totally planned out. Which, let’s be honest, he can’t even plan dinner without waiting until we’re both starving.” She laughed.

   “So when’s the celebration?” 

   “When can you get here?” Rey looked away.

   “I’m on a long mission. You probably won’t see me until it’s time.” He looked concerned.

   “Is that going to be soon?” 

   “Probably not. But you should go ahead without me. Don’t pause your life for me. What happens if-”

   “Rey. We’re going to wait for you. Even if it’s when everything is over. And since when are you so… Oh. Rey. It wasn’t your fault.”

   “You don’t even know what happened.”

   “I know whenever you’re forced into a tight corner and have to kill; you spend a week in your room and meditate. And if we’re lucky to drag you out, you spent the entire time worrying about things you know you can’t prevent.”

   “They had a family.”

   “Snoke had parents, too, you know.”

   “What?”

   “Snoke didn’t just exist from nothingness. He likes to act like he’s a god but he was a child at some point with parents. Yet you’re still going after him. And so did Kylo Ren. Well, General Leia is still here. But... ” He paused and looked at her. “Although, I’m glad you haven’t locked yourself in your room yet.”

   “It’s not the same… And Luke is standing outside making sure I don’t.” Finn gave a soft laugh.

   “Rey. I don’t disagree with your feelings on killing. It’s not like the thought of killing those I spent all my life getting to know doesn’t keep me up at night. But I have a purpose and if my actions prevents them from going to another world and wreak havoc, it’s worth tainting my hands.”

   “I just... the Force doesn’t exactly let me just ignore the embers of life fleeting. It’s easier to ignore when I’m not directly responsible for it. The more I train, the more I feel.”

   “Why do you do this?” She scoffed.

   “Because I’m a Jedi and here to protect others.” 

   “Wow. Could you sound anymore excited by that? That would definitely persuade armies to fight for you. Why do  _ you _ fight?”

   “Finn.”

   “Rey. I’m serious, you were brought into this because of me, well more like BB-8, but do you really have a reason to personally do all of this? What are you personally fighting for?” She heard his door slide open and in the background Poe popped up. He looked up from his halo pad and broke into a smile when he saw her.

   “Hey! Did he share the news, we were going to tell you together!” Finn gave a sheepish look but Poe just punched lightly in his shoulder. “ It’s going to be great!” She laughed, the tension gone. 

   “Yep. Congratulations. Don’t forget my design or you’ll make me sad.” Poe winked and Finn looked confused.

   “Already in works. Ready whenever you get here.” Finn gave him a look and Poe looked back at Rey. “Whenever that is. No rushed. I gotta go back, just wanted to grab a something for the general. Be good.” He waved and turned back to raid their drawer, pulling out a sock. Poe reached in and grabbed a black stick and smiled. With one last wave, he left the their room.

   “Rey.” Finn looked back her. She waved her hands up in defense.

   “Okay, so I kind of gave advice to Poe. I expected him to hold back though.” Finn gave her a smile.

   “I assume you won’t tell me what the ‘design’ is?”

   “Nope.” He scrunched up his nose in response and then went serious again.

   “Rey, just focus on why you’re doing all of this. You’re not going to fall into the dark side because you kill. You’re a good person.”

   “You know, I’d call you wise if you didn’t know what ice cream was until last year.” Finn gave a bellow.

   “You didn’t even know what it was either.” She smiled.

   “You got me there.” They talked about safer topics from there for a few more hours until Poe returned again to drag Finn to dinner with the promise they would call her soon. Much to Luke’s annoyance, Rey did spend the remaining day and half in her room; meditating alone with the door locked. 

 

* * *

 

   Rey stepped out of the freighter and was already sticky from the swamp’s humidity. “It reminds me a bit of Dagobah.” Luke followed out after her, a box in arms and headed east.

   “Lucky for us though, this area is a bit void of creatures. Though, expect daily rains that accomplish nothing for this humidity.” Rey grabbed some of their supplies and followed after. She looked beyond Luke and saw the large mound with a wooden door swollen and rotten from the environment. Luke used the Force and yanked the door out of the frame and placed it a few feet from the entrance. “Right, let’s get this place a little cleaned up before getting the students.” Rey looked inside to find  large empty room that showed three different doorway further into the mound.

   “Or we get them now and less cleaning for us.” Luke laughed.

   “Spoken like a true master. But they’re just spent almost fifteen years carbonited, it’ll be a bit before their they can even see again. Might as well make sure they have fresh sheets. The rooms back there shouldn’t be too bad. The mound does a good job of keeping the temperature down and humidity out. Plus, most of the things here are prepared for this environment. The first doorway on the left has the bedrooms. Should be enough, I made about eight along the hallway. The middle room just contains an open room for forms and through it, the kitchen. The one of the right has just two more rooms for us.” He spoke as he moved old, large tarps from the ground, revealing a decent solid ground untainted by the swamp.

   “You made this?”

   “Yes, well, I had just exiled myself and had some time. Seemed like personal punishment to create a new temple but it looks like it came to use.” He went silent and Rey went through the door on the left and saw the hallway dark. She placed her hand on the wall wishing she didn’t have to go back to the freighter for a lamp when large stones lit up every three feet. She popped her head back out at Luke in confusion. “Oh, I forgot about the Force sensitive rocks, you just need to place-” He looked passed and saw the hallway lit up. “You’ve figured it out.”

   “Yeah, I’ve ran into this before.”

   “Really? And here I thought I was just clever. Shame.” And walked into the middle doorway, muttering how nothing is original anymore. Rey walked back into the hallway and checked each of the bedrooms. Much to her surprised the beds were still in good shape, protected by tarps. Each room was barren beyond two beds and a stone radiating light on each side of the walls. 

   Some time went by as she came back in the main room, arms filled with grimy tarps. Luke had already brought sheets from the freighter and left them by the doorway and she gave an annoyed sighed and dramatically dropped the tarps on the solid floor and picked up the sheets. She came back to the doorway and this time saw small pillows piled by the door with the tarps gone. Rey looked around for Luke and gave another frustrated groan at having to go back through the rooms again. 

   Rey tentatively came out and to her relief found nothing else needing to be passed out to each of the bedrooms. Luke came out of the kitchen with a sandwich in hand, caught in the act of slacking. He froze.

   “Master, if you have time to eat, you have time put the machine together.”

   “Right you are.” He took a huge bite and stepped out of the hidden dwelling. He said something but was impossible to understand until he swallowed the rest of his food. Luke looked back at Rey and repeated, “has Ben tried to contact you lately?” The freighter in view when Luke looked at her. She continued walking.

   “Sort of. He reached out yesterday but I was meditating and he backed off.”

   “Hmm.”

   “Yes?”

   “Nothing. I’m just surprised how quickly he left.” Rey bitterly laughed.

   “It took almost  two hours before he would leave. He seemed to think I wanted comfort when I didn’t or to talk about it or remind me again how sparing unnecessarily can come back to harm me like sparing his own men just created vengeful soldiers going after me. He’s terrible at getting the hint.” They entered the freighter and slowly pulled out the bulk of carbonite machine and its pieces. Rey stood back and watched Luke place the pieces back together. As he was finishing up and attaching its power source to the ship and mumbled something to Rey who only gave him a confused look.

   “Are you sure you didn’t actually appreciate his attempt?” Rey folded up her arms in annoyance.

   “I don’t like what you’re implying.” He turned the machine on and stood by as it warmed up. 

   “I’m not implying anything. I’m just wondering out loud, if you will. A force bond is a pretty emotional connection. Maybe it was created by accident, sure, but you both are practically on other ends of the galaxy and still able to maintain contact. That’s a really strong connection that I haven’t really seen or heard of before. Most Force users are able to create small connections just by being near each other and a few allow a bond to connect them, but even then, a light year was as much as their communication could reach.” The machine stopped humming as much and indicating it was ready with a light. “Did he try to help you with that fight?” She stayed silent and used her Force to pull the first two children out.  

   “Let’s just get this over with.” Luke placed the the first students in and looked at Rey.

   “Jedis are expected to throw out emotions that could pull them into the dark side. But the traditional Jedi era is over; you can be Rey  _ and _ a Jedi. Just find your own reason in becoming a true Jedi and the rest will come.”

   “Master, I’ve been training for three years. I don’t think right now is the time to ask another ‘why am I here’. I can find my purpose in life  _ after _ this is all over.” She walked over and pulled the lever. The machine closed between the children; tense minutes passed as they waited for the process to finish. Eventually it opened and they heard gasps of air coming from inside. Rey walked over to them, a little eight year old girl and a nine year old girl. Both immediately started crying and reached out for comfort.

   “I can’t see anything.”

   “What’s going on?” They both cried out. Luke approached the three and spoke.

   “Relax Sa’ar and Juniper, it’s just the side effects of your sleep. Your vision will come back but let Rey guide to your room.” They stopped crying immediately  and reached up to Luke. He tensed at their touched and tried to look neutral but tears around his eyes gave it away.

   “I was so scared, Master Luke.” He pat the nine year old’s head.

   “It’s okay, Juniper. Rey told me how brave you were, how brave you all were. Now go with her okay?”   

   They repeated the same tactic. Luke spoke to each of them as they panicked over their lost of vision and eventually they followed Rey back to the dwelling. They all barely made it into their beds before exhaustion of being carbonite did to them and they truly went to sleep. The last pair was Rhean and Andromeda, as Luke had told Rey. The girl had started crying immediately but Rhean just stood there and used his Force to try to visual his surrounding. Rey was almost impressed by his ability to stay calm he as he tried to step out and then tripped over the edge. She helped him up with a smile.

   “It’s okay. You got nothing to prove.” Luke was comforting Andromeda while Rey started to guide Rhean back.

   “You sound as if no time has passed.” 

   “I, uh, live longer than humans. To me, it only seems like a few days ago since I saw you.” Rhean gave a laugh.

   “Master, just how did you last all this time without being able to lie?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far! Next chapter we explore Rhean's training, the objects Rey picked up, and a sneak at what Rey has planned next for Ben!  
> :)


	18. AKA Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey begins to grasp how to find balance and accept to her own fears.

   Humidity did not agree with Rey who sat squarely on a thick root belonging to an ancient tree above the swamp water. Her hair was in the pathetic attempt to be tied up but Rey had given up days ago on trying to fight against the air. It was early in the morning as she listened to the wind flow through the marsh with Rhean not arriving in another hour for their morning practice so she enjoyed the peace of silence and solitude. Which Rey really needed as she wasn’t used to being surrounded by so many people, let alone children. At least on the base, she could found solace in Finn’s room if the endless supply of people overwhelmed her, here the younger children did not hesitate to climb into her bed if they had a nightmare. And nightmares from the students  had increased after most of them understood how much time had truly passed and how alienated they were from others. There was no more scheduled family visits, no more trips to the base, and no more  journeys off the planet; just constant humidity and swamp with a hermit and an asocial young adult as masters .

   However, Rey was just glad most of them still prefered going to Luke; even if  the three year old, Sesha, still prefered to eat dinner on her lap. Rey had given up fighting that habit when Sesha had accidentally pushed all the food off the table the last time Rey had tried to force her to sit on her own chair. She still shuddered at the thought of all that wasted food. Most of the students adjusted slowly at their new situation since the two masters had decided to try and keep things as normal as possible to prevent too much emotional turmoil or complication and for the last week, beyond nightmares of darkness they adapted well enough. Rey created her own routine by sitting with her ‘Secret Weapons’, as the five oldest had decided to call themselves, for an hour in the evening to allow them to debrief over lessons or what news Rey could find on the war outside their temple. Beyond the first night of their meeting of Rey passively fibbed that the Force gave her an option to back in time to fix Ben’s action that it was non-repeatable, and she would prefer not to talk about Ben Solo, they feigned acceptance of her explanation. but Rey could feel their questions rising and knew it was only a matter of time before they were willing to press for more.

   Despite Rhean being her only student, she seemed to be left in charge of afternoon’s combat lessons as well as one-on-one combat lessons with her Secret Weapons. She could only assume Luke was trying to prepare them, in case the Resistance's desperation required their presence as well but Rey still had hope she could be able to take out Snoke without dragging them into it.

   Suddenly, she felt Ben’s presence enter her mind and she allowed herself to be swallowed into the Force, dimly aware the stone she brought with her begin to softly pulse.

 

_“You’re late.” Rey stood in the middle of a forest with the barest trace of snow. Ben was already sitting on a fallen tree waiting._

_“I.. did you miss me or something? You’re usually don’t talk until after a spar.”_

_“I’ve just gotten used to our chats every other day. Rhean benefits from them. And you’re late. Don’t have time to beat you and chat.” Ben rolled his eyes and moved further down to allow her space to sit._

_“I haven’t had a chance to sleep yet. I just got back from a raid.”_

_“Ah. Any fighters against your ‘noble’ cause?”_

_“Of course there was. You raid a village and you’ll only find those desperate to protect others. I’m tired, scavenger. You’re well aware I can’t just stop acting as the Master of the Knights of Ren.” They locked eyes and Rey quickly broke and rubbed the back of her neck._

_“You’re right. I apologize.” Ben gave her an astonished look and then narrowed his eyes._

_“What’s wrong? Did you have another nightmare about the Bounty Hunters?” She waved her hand in indifference._

_“It was one time.”_

_“Scavenger. You never apologize. Your stubbornness makes it near impossible for such an action. Frankly, I figured Snoke defecting and join the Resistance had a higher chance of happening.”_

_“Remind me never to acknowledge if you’re ever right about something.”_

_“I’m always right but you’re stalling.”_

_“I was trying to, yes. It’s nothing, really. I really just wanted to hear your opinion about the stone from the market. It’s only been a week of monitoring Rhean’s abilities but I think it’s time to see how reaction to something touched by the Dark side. But whenever I hold it…” She looked up into the forest._

_“Is this Starkiller’s forest? That’s pretty grim, even for you.” Ben stared at her deadpan. Rey sighed from her failure of switching topics. “Okay, fine. The stone seems to only one to show battles that have long since passed, blood of countless sides and creatures and seems to crave going back. And it seems to whisper when I try to study too hard into what it shows but refuses to speak directly to me.”_

_“You’re afraid it will temp Rhean into the beyond the scope of reason and go to the extremes of the dark side.” She stood up from the tree and started pacing._

_“You make it seem like I have no trust in the Dark side.”_

_“You don’t.” His face was emotionless, his arms crossed as he watched Rey moving._

_“I’m teaching your classmate, aren’t I?”_

_“It’s quite obvious that you’re still afraid of it. No, don’t give me that look. You are. You kill two men and you spend how long beating yourself up because you seem to think, despite how disgusted of the power you have_ _to be_ ** _able_** _to kill, that it indicates you’ll eventually switch. You don’t pull from the Force to gain power for your own fear or anger. You pull from the Force for defense, to protect. It doesn’t change that in order to defend, you have to kill.” She stopped moving and looked at him._

_“How do you manipulate the Force?”_

_“I gain power by pulling from my anger, changing sides didn’t mean I changed who I am. Just as it seems Rhean pulls from his fear. There’s a reason why so much more Force users follow the light and so few follow the darkness.”_

_“Because it’s easy to not rely on such emotions?” He stood up and faced her, mildly amused by her constant sarcasm._

_“Because it’s easier to go down the path of light. There is effort in protecting others and so the light gives off the illusion that it’s constantly good. Being on the defense implies you’re being attacked and not the enemy. But sometimes in order to do good things, you have to perform immoral decisions. The Dark side provides unimaginable power and thus easily corruptible. If more Force users felt its call, the light would never win. I’ll admit, not many examples can come from those in the Dark side use their powers for good but you’re a good start in balancing other the Dark side to create two different ways to accomplishing the same goals._

_“The original Force user went to you because she knew you wouldn’t be tempted. Perhaps it takes someone from the Light to show those in the Dark how they can truly use their powers beyond selfish goals. So accept your fear so you can properly guide Rhean. Don’t allow him to take on it’s power alone, become incorruptible for him. I would even go as far as tell you to listen to your friend if he wasn’t a traitor if it meant you would accept your fear.” He stepped away and Rey laughed._

_“It’s been three years. You really should let it go.” They started walking out of the forest._

_“Tell that to Phasma. She’s even got Hux in on trying to find him.” They reached a comfortable silence as they followed the forest as it gradually gave way to an opening over a cliff. It was moments like this that made Rey want to break their unspoken agreement to not talk about what happened at the island but Ben looked over her with a neutral expression, the chance missed._

_“What’s the next step?” She studied the canyon._

_“I’m honestly stuck. Saving the students was easy to plan compared to this goal. Your uncle and grandfather only brought it up as ideal objective but even they couldn’t figure out a decent plan.”_

_“Which is?”_

_“Well, I can’t go back and save all the lives killed in your- the First Order’s raid so we wanted to fix the biggest tragedy that was done just to show off what the Starkiller could do.”_

_“You mean stop the annihilation of the Hosnian system? That’s billions of people versus moving fourteen children to the edge of the galaxy. As well for the fact that every Force sensitive felt their deaths. You can’t stop it.” She gave an annoyed cry._

_“I know that! But what’s the purpose of time walking if I can’t save them? I can’t just go straight until Starkiller and prevent it from firing nor can’t give warning to the New Republic. This power does nothing useful for bigger problems.” He placed his hand on her shoulder._

_“You saved fourteen lives. I know it seems tiny compared to those lives but you still saved lives. Think of the lives you’ll save in the future from that action alone. It was cruel of them to even suggest you should be bearing the responsibility of saving an entire system. Forget about this step now.” She yanked away and looked up annoyed. “I said_ **_now_ ** _, not forever. You’re a time walker, if you figure it out later, you have all the time in the galaxy to solve it. But right now, you need to focus on Snoke. He’s preparing, Rey.” She gave him a quizzical look.  “Our time is up for now and this is something that should be discussed in person. But we don’t have very long.” Rey sighed and lightly punched his shoulder._

_“Get some rest, Ben.” He nodded._

 

   Rey opened her eyes to see Rhean trudging towards her through the swamp. She lifted a thick root from the water for him to sit across from her. He carefully climbed up and settled down and tossed a fruit at her. She took a bite while he immediately studied the stone that seemed to purr in his presence.

   “Did you meditate with the others?” Rhean looked up annoyed.

   “ _Y_ _es_. Although I don’t understand why Taia is allowed to perform her morning meditation without the others. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate with children who can’t sit still?” She gave a small smile.

   “Taia is old enough to do that. But I feel with our branch of training, you need as much interactions with others to keep you grounded.” He groaned. “But if you can beat me in a fight this afternoon, perhaps you can join Taia in the mornings.”

   “Master, we both know you’re unbeatable. Fights against Master Luke are barely interesting now. Although it seems  your spars are you getting out frustration for a slight he did.”

   “I’m sure we will find another way for you to earn your solitude. But not today. I’ve talked to Ben to discuss your lessons.” Rhean looked eager and looked back at the stone. “Yes, it will include you studying the stone. But first, I want you to honestly explain how you feel the Force flows through you. How do you draw its powers?” Rhean looked up in surprised by the question and stared at Rey while he tried to form an answer. She gave an encouraging smile.

   “I’m afraid by not using the Force I can’t do anything. I don’t want to be helpless.” She gave a nod.

   “I said honestly, Rhean. I’m not here to judge.” He turned red from being caught and sighed.

   “I draw my powers when I want to prove myself so I can be the best. But I can feel it flow whenever I fight along others, too. It’s like the Force can’t decide if I would be more powerful fighting for my own goals or as a group.” Rey stood up from her own root and stepped into the marsh. Rhean looked down and saw she hadn’t fallen into the water but merely had her feet touching the top.

   “You want power?” He looked up to her.

   “Yes.”

   “Do you want to use power to help others?” He hesitated.

   “I… If… I don’t truly want to harm others.” She smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

   “To desire power does not put you on the same level of Snoke. It’s whether you willing to use your powers to protect those who are weak or willing to step over them on the way to domination. However, to lead doesn’t require to be cruel, General Leia commands without threat.” Rey hesitated.

   “I’ve already explained to you that while I have every intention in guiding you. But it would be unfair to you to not understand that I still fear the Dark side. It’s capabilities to give such unfair greatness is the reason I draw away from it. Because…” Rhean watched her work out a sudden understanding but could not comprehend from what. “Because I don’t think I’m strong enough to commit necessary acts that sometimes we may have to do for the greater good.” She looked back at Rhean, who seemed worried by her sudden confession.

   “I apologize for my own flaws as my own bias could hinder your teaching. It’s something we will work through together. But I do believe **in** you, Rhean. I believe you can be shown power and help. To be stronger than me by accepting the responsibility of the greater good.” He looked proud and Rey returned a smile. “Now, we need to move and you trudging through the swamp will slow us down.

   “I want you to visualize the marsh below you and how much you need the air around you to breathe. When you’re ready, step off the root and imagine the Force should be keeping the water below you.” He stood up, towering Rey and closed his eyes. A moment passed and he stepped off. She clapped his back as he opened his eyes to see he created an invisible surface that prevented the water to touch him, much like Rey’s.

   “You grabbed lunch, right? We’re going to be gone for awhile for today’s lesson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	19. AKA Multiple Perceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rhean gains knowledge from the stone darken by night and Rey is jerked around by images that spell only death.

   “This stone seems alive.” Rhean was curiously staring at the rock in front of Rey and himself. They had found a dry area a distance away from the dwelling. The humidity constantly following her. The rock had pulsated the entire time angrily, as if it was irritated it was Rey whom carried it. Now it simply pulsed every few minutes.

   “Of sorts. Has Master Luke explain why temples are used by both sides of the Force?” He looked up to Rey. 

   “I know that the areas around them take on the Force practiced around it. The longer a Force User is there, the stronger it impacts the area. That, and both sides would constantly trying to destroy each other temples. And if not destroy, then take over the temple for themselves.”

   “Right. It’s strong enough to even manipulate Force users into corruption to other side but it takes generations to create enough absorption for it to really make a difference. This stone, I believe, follows the same principle. When I first looked at it, I assumed it was something that was more of a background object where Force was accidently poured into it. But I’ve come to understand that it an amulet of sorts. It’s seen a lot of battles and because of that its blood thirsty. It doesn’t appear to provide additional powers but I believe it’s original owner simply enjoyed spilling blood and passed it down from master to apprentice. However, I don’t know what it will share for you as it fought me and only wanted to share some of it’s history to me in hopes I would just let it go. 

   “Once Snoke is gone and you can come out of hiding, I can take you a temple that can provide you more guidance from the dark side and as you know, Ben is not able to be here to give direct teaching so in the meantime I hope perhaps this stone can help. I’ve also found a text that has been touched by the dark side that we should be able to use but I’m still trying to translate it.” Rhean looked at Rey guilty.

   “I appreciate you putting in all this effort to teach me. But you don’t have to put so much energy when we’re in the middle of a conflict.” She smiled.

   “I can do both. I’m not alone in this fight and my friends are currently doing the real battles as I find a weakness of Snoke so we can realistically take him on. I don’t have much time to allow the conflict continue but training you means if something happens to me, you aren’t left alone unprepared.”

   “That’s awfully dark.”

   “Just realistic. Don’t worry, I don’t have a death wish. Although, I’d appreciate it if you don’t try to become too much like a Sith Lord and eliminate me.” They both shared a laugh and Rhean looked back at the stone. “Go ahead and reach out to it. Don’t let it control you but let it guide you through what it wants to share.” He took a deep breath and reached out. She felt his energy spike and then felt him fall into a trace. She didn’t expect to have him come out for a bit so she allowed herself to settled into a light meditation and studied the webs around her and then moved beyond to check on her favorites at the base.

   Some time had passed and Rey had just unintentionally checked on Ben who was in a rare state of being completely asleep to the point of not noticing her when she felt a ripple in the Force. She pulled back but not before something held her over sudden blackness. Rey focused on her breathing, hoping by doing so her breathing would bring her back physically, instead it caused four images to appear in front of her.  The first one showed of stormtroopers on the ground in front of a stone building Rey didn’t recognized. The two middle ones were fuzzy and seemed to refuse to share its knowledge to her. But she could make out the outline of what appeared to be was two adults with a small child with the other one mashed with color but she didn’t have a moment to dwell on it, the last one startled Rey. Bright red blood the seemed to be oozing out of the frame coming from an obviously dead Ben Solo with a gaping hole through his chest held intimately by her. Their foreheads were touching and blood transferring from him to her clothes. 

_    You know what must be done. _

 

   And then Rey opened her eyes with tears to see a concerned Rhean stand over her. She stood up and noticed the stone was tossed a few feet from them, pulsating angrily.

   “You were glowing. I thought you were going to disappear.”

   “I- hold on.” She staggered a couple steps away and up heaved the food from earlier. They stayed quiet as Rhean kicked the rock further away and Rey caught her breath.

_    Are you okay? _ His voice made her pale and panicky.

_    Go back to sleep. We’ll talk later. _ Rey blocked her mind, unable to process this seudo-vision, calm Rhean down, and talk to be. She looked at the teenager who looked guilty.

   “Relax. The stone didn’t cause it.” He shifted uncomfortably, still at unease.

   “Are you sure? It doesn’t particularly like you.” Confusion washed through Rey from that statement but she couldn’t let Rhean get worried. She pulled out a cloth from her pocket.

   “Do you feel comfortable carrying it back?” He nodded and once he wrapped it up Rey motioned for him to start walking back to the dwelling.

   “But I’m not surprised it doesn’t like me. I already told it that I wouldn’t help its travel to a battle ground and since then only curses at me. I know you want an explanation of what just happened to me but I would rather postpone that until tonight so for now tell me what you saw.” Rhean relaxed at the promise of an explanation and carried on walking above the marsh. 

   “Not much more than what you described except of images of all the death it witness. The stone is definitely bloodthirsty. It promised me power if I helped it get to another battlefield. But I didn’t believe it could do that since we had just talked about temples and their limited powers and I told it that.” He looked up for Rey’s reaction and saw how proud she looked. He blushed from her behavior and continued on.

   “I told it that I could go to any temple and gained better knowledge so it showed me information of various battles. Which wasn’t that interesting and only showed tactics I already knew from studying. When I responded that ancient battles don’t interest me it angrily told me of who it belonged too and how each one of them met success on the battlefield. The stone doesn’t remember its original master. It’s had  _ a lot  _ of masters but its last one it remember well. It said that this one was just as bloodthirsty as it and really clever. His name was Serkis Nimms or as he liked to go by later in his life: Snoke.” Rey could feel the rock getting irritated by how Rhean was talking about it but he made no indication he cared, Rey hesitated.

   “How much did it share about him?” Rhean gave a broad smile and puffed out his chest.

   “Master, you wound me. Me versus a stone? It gave me everything anticipating I would become its new master.” Rey stopped walking and looked at Rhean. “He has weaknesses.” She almost broke into a grin if Rhean didn’t seem so troubled.

   “Right. Let’s  talk to Master Luke. We can’t lose this stone, it can absolutely not fall back into his hand.”

   “We’re at the edge of the galaxy, how could it fall back to him?” They started walking again in a faster pace.

   “The same way it managed to find Snoke’s enemy. I doubt it was by chance it called out specifically for me. But I can’t touch that stone anymore, I don’t want to provide it anymore information on me.” 

   “It’ll be fine. It no longer wants to speak to me. But we should probably give it to Master Luke…” He looked on the ground sheepishly. Rey pat his back as they walked through the marsh.

   “Denying power you know will only lead you to travel the wrong path is strength, Rhean.” He looked down as she spoke. “We will find another means for your to find power you seek. Don’t forget, we still have the text and temples to visit for your training. This stone may not have helped you but it did help provide information against Snoke and that will just mean it’ll be that much sooner before we can study off this planet.” Rey expect him to be excited by that prospect but noticed something else bothered him. She chose to allow silence to fall between as she used the remainder of the walk back to mull over what she thinks the Force had shown her. Seeing images was nothing new to Rey and despite never having control over what images she normally saw, how those four images were presented in the middle of nothingness with two images refusing to share was frightening. She couldn’t determine why the Force would be trying to show something it wasn’t capable of showing. It had even felt like she was ripped from her own Force. She looked up alarmed, trying to click the pieces together with half a mind to contact Ben for his own opinion but noticed they had already made most of the course back and Rhean still seemed worried. Ben could wait a bit longer. And then Rey realized what was really missing.

   “What color did I glow, Rhean?” He jumped from her sudden break in silence and his lost of focus almost broke his concentration of keeping above water with the Force.

   “Purple. I think.” She raised her eyebrows at him.

   “Your observations are usually accurate, but this time you aren’t sure?” Rhean flinched.

   “Sorry, master.” They were nearing the dwelling within sight; Taia was leading the afternoon meditation as a few of the younger students were tossing pebbles at each other with the Force while her eyes were shut with amused look.  Something wasn’t sitting right with Rey and Rhean looked as if he was ready to bolt as he looked around for Luke. 

   “Rhean.” He hesitated. “You saw someone over me, didn’t you?” They stopped walking. Taia opened her eyes and waved at them. They didn’t acknowledge her and Rey lowered herself to his eye level. Rhean refused to meet them and fidgeted. And then, Master Luke stepped out of the dwelling and Rhean finally looked at Rey.

   “She promised that this would only help you.” And all at once, he jabbed a tiny green stone into her wrist and Luke started running towards them. It burned her skin and she tried to pull away, Rhean just looked helplessly at her as the students now all turned towards the two. Everything around her shift and blended into each other. The swamp along with it’s humidity was fading and with a last look, all she saw was of Rhean’s trouble eyes wrecked with guilt. 

   Instead, Rey, now stood in cold sand, with an ocean to her left and grassland to her right, with only the moonlight that kept hiding behind clouds to give her any light. Her sense of directions was completely off with no understanding of when and where she was. Rey looked at her wrist and saw the tiny green stone still in her skin. She desperately tried to pull it off but it seemed to be infused and no amount of plying would work except cause blood to trickle down her wrist. She reached out for Ben but couldn’t sense him. Fear was starting to engulf her She reached out to find any webs that could direct her back to anyone but not one web could be felt. In fact, it felt as if she couldn’t feel anything beyond herself. 

   Rey moved a few steps and focused on going to the Resistance base in her present time and formed a lowercase ‘t’ and clapped her hands. No portal emerged and she fell to knees, letting the panic take over. She looked back at the stone in confusion. And looked at the sand directly in front of her and lifted her land to move it with her Force; not a grain of sand moved in response. She fell to all fours and started wailing. Nothing was making sense, she couldn’t use the Force, and she was on a beach in the middle of nowhere. 

   If she wasn’t in between crying and yelling Rey would have noticed a young male approaching her. And so, it wasn’t until he was a few feet away before she heard his movements and quickly shot up into a defensive stance. Her lightsaber staff was no longer with her and Rey almost cried out again from how defenseless she was. 

   The moonlight came out from a cloud and she  looked into the eyes of the stranger and stepped back in bewilderment. Those were definitely Ben’s eyes, even if the rest of his face didn’t match him. He placed his hands up to his shoulders to mean no harm and looked concerned.

   “Mom?”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. Forgive me but Rey is about to get some sh*t thrown at her.  
> But really, can you imagine Luke now having to deal with a group of students in mid-panic while trying figure out where the hell Rey just went?


	20. AKA A Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey is given an opportunity to change her destiny.

   His question stood in the air. Rey would have preferred to be suddenly battling Snoke than how her last ten minutes have gone. The boy moved his hands back to his sides and watched her. She took the few steps towards him and noticed he overshadowed her by a few inches. Her eyes narrowed as they stared at each other. Then, without warning, Rey decked him straight into his jaw. He fell straight back onto the sand with confusion.

   “Well, shit. This is real. Sorry.” She reached her hand towards him to help him up. The boy rolled his eyes and took it reluctantly. “You look about my age, a bit younger actually. How old are you?”

   “Seventeen.” He rubbed his jaw.

   “Right, again sorry. But I’m definitely not your mom, do I look old enough to be a mom?” She paused and studied him who seemed to still be more focused on his new bruise than her question. “Do you need help looking for her?” He shook his head.

   “No, she’s with my dad.” Rey started to ask more questions and he quickly spoke again. “Come on, it’s the middle of the night and I’d rather move inside.” He started walking towards the grassland and Rey looked around her then attempted to feel for anyone without success. The green pebbled shined against the moonlight now with dried blood encrusted with sand around it. She sighed and followed after him as she considered what she knew.

   The first fact that she was clearly no longer able to use the force and thus had no guess of where the students or anyone else could be; the second fact, who or whatever tried to show her the images was most likely responsible for this; third, Rey was no longer in her present time but she was leaning towards the future as the fourth fact walked in front of her as her apparent offspring. He looked a lot of like Ben with the same mannerism of walking. If he wasn’t her kid, he was, at least, definitely Ben’s. She shuddered as she walked and wondered what the hell could have happened to cause her to procreate, let alone with Ben. Unless it wasn't by choice...

   The air was tense as they walked into the grassy field. Rey continued to scanned the land for anymore surprises only to see a modest wooden hut across the terrain. The boy continued his pace while occasionally rubbing his jaw. When they arrived, he pushed open the door and entered without looking back at her. She looked around and shoved a rock from the ground into her pocket for a pathetic attempt of a weapon. She opened the door to find the boy already sitting on a thick mat in front of a low table already set up with two cups filled with liquid; the room was barely furnished with only a small kitchen in a corner. She hesitantly sat at the opposite as the boy started to stir his own drink. His jaw was already forming a nasty bruise.

   “What’s your name?” He looked at the table.

   “Jayson.” She narrowed her eyes.

   “Is it really?”

   “Even without the Force you can pick up my lie?” He looked up to find Rey scanning the room. “I’m sure you could find a number of things to use as a weapon to get information out of me and that rock in your pocket is most definitely fearsome but I’m really not a threat... But it’s better to just call me Jayson, I don’t want my name to be a product of a time paradox.” Rey face was alarmed with her head spinning as she tried to determine this information. Pain flared on her wrist where the stone reside. She reached out her hand and pressed against it to try and stop the discomfort.

   “It’s not meant to block so much Force but the pain will only get worse if you don’t calm your mind.”

   “You gave it to Rhean?”

   “No. I wasn’t for this plan.”

   “Who was?”

   “M-Rey, you probably want to mull over that for a bit and ask the more concerning questions.” She looked at him deadpanned.

   “Are the students okay?”

   “The students you were with are not threatened.” Her shoulders relaxed.

   “Is this my future?”

   “It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

   “So what, a parallel universe?” Jayson smiled at her. Rey was taken back at how weird it was to see Ben’s eyes light up.

   “You know, time walking is possible. Would the possibility of a parallel universe be that impossible?”

   “Yes.” He took a sip from his cup.

   “Fair enough but no, this isn’t a parallel universe either. It’s more of a branch of your future, one that doesn’t truly exist.”

   “How does it exist but yet here we sit?”

   “You’ve made the Force really desperate. A lot of effort to pull you out of the… main stream timeline, if you will, so you could be given an option.”

   “How have I made the Force desperate?” He sighed and rubbed his eyes with a hand.

   “I... look, you- wait. You’re more concerned over that than what your options are?”

   “You clearly didn’t want to be the person here so you’re here just to provide information for me to hear. I’d rather focus on the now than what someone wants me to do.” He groaned and hit his head against the tabled and mumbled out.

   “This is exactly why that stone is digging into your wrist. You’re difficult.”

   “You’re concerned I’d use the Force against my apparent son?” He lifted his head up.

   “You don’t believe me?”

   “I really don’t care who you are unless it’s related to why I’m here.”   

   “That’s a lie and it’s bothering you immensely on who my father is, you just don’t want to hear the possibility that I’m the son of -”

   “I don’t want to know my own future. Just get to the point, Jayson.” They stared at each other, the boy’s face matching a smug expression she could easily recognize from a certain father figure and her stomach continued to drop. She looked down into her own cup.

   “You have to figure what you’re fighting for.” Rey looked up in confusion and then started laughing.

   “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard.” She barely got out the words as she cackled. And then just as quickly, Rey stopped laughing and her face went serious. “I was brought here because of that? Why does it even matter? I’m a Jedi, that’s all the reasoning I need.” Jayson shifted uncomfortably.

   “If the First Order had been the one who got you off of Jakku, would you not have joined them? Eventually, Kylo Ren would have figured out you’re Force sensitive. Could you say you wouldn’t have followed them if you didn’t meet Finn first?” He looked at her intensely.

   “Of course not.” She challenged his look back and then shifted once it truly dawned on her what he was imply. “I mean, I’m sided with light. I would always choose that side.” Jayson kept his face neutral.

   “Yet you’re capable of using a dark skill flawlessly and have the knowledge of a particular skill just recently taught to you.”

   “How do you know about that?”

   “I told you, you’ve made the Force desperate. And I couldn’t very well talk to you without knowing what’s been going on with you.”

   “That’s a bit eerie.”

   “The stone will release when you find your purpose and you can go back to the right timeline. If it was up to me, we would have left you alone. You’re surrounded with enough people to make the right decision.”

   “Is this a doomed timeline?”

“This is the timeline where you weren’t protected.”

   “Shoving a pebble into my wrist isn’t protecting me.”

   “That’s not what’s protecting you but that stone is giving you an chance to understand the future without shoving you directly into it and possibly destroying everything within the galaxy.” She looked unimpressed, Jayson slammed his palms to the table. “You don’t understand! You’re going to either be its savior or its destroyer. Trillions of lives destroyed because you were...”

   “Because I was?”

   “You said you don’t want to know your future.” Jayson stood up from his mat. “Just… you have time now. Going back right now means you’re back to balancing between teaching Rhean and destroying Snoke when you have no idea how to do either. You said it’s not a big deal of your lack of true purpose but if you have nothing; you have nothing to lose either.” He walked towards the door and turned back to look at Rey. “The tea that you’ve been ignoring will help with the numbing pain the stone is causing and help you relax.” He left without a response. Rey bolted to the window closest to the door and watched him make a trek back towards the beach.

   She waited until he was no longer in sight for a few minutes and opened the door. Rey sprinted into the trees, using the moonlight to stop her from tripping over roots or running into branches as she headed up a nearby mountain. It disturbed Rey as she noticed no noise coming from the woods. No sounds of nocturnal animals roaming the woods with only the soft sounds of her steps. Something wasn't right about that and she wondered if maybe her hearing was also affected with no longer able to use her Force. Paranoia followed her as she repeatedly checked back to make sure Jayson hadn’t figured out she left which left all the obvious signs unnoticed until she walked out onto a peak that showed a familiar island view with a cave’s entrance  nearby. She was on Da’kaa.

 

* * *

 

    Rey looked over the cliff and saw the same view she had only saw a little over two weeks ago. She was ready to start screaming from sheer frustration if she hadn’t remembered she ditched Jayson and didn't want to tip off her movement. The moon shined tauntingly back at her as she tried think of a way out.

_Come, child. Let us talk._

   Rey turned from the cliff and looked at the cave and then gave a drawn out sigh. Rey gave a glaring look at the moon and listened for an sounds of movement, in case he was near. Once no more excuses could be found to delay the inevitable, she sighed and walked towards the cave. She walked into the cave with no bother of trying to activate the lights on the wall; choosing instead to mull over her thoughts. However, It seemed the cave had other ideas than letting her brood the dark as the stones gradually lit up the walls.  

   Eventually she reached the room, already opened for her and lit. The basin as before stood alone in the middle. She inspected the walls and waited until it become uncomfortable to stand and do nothing before she approached the basin. She lifted her uninjured hand over the basin and closed her eyes.

 

_She awoken them and only to see darkness. No light to even give the assurance her body existed. The feeling of floating in nothingness only heighten the feeling of drifting._

_“Hello?” She whispered bur her voice echoed loudly into the pitch in response. Minutes passed in silence as she floated waiting for something to occur. Her patience was rewarded as suddenly a light dim came from the pebble on her wrist. Then soft, flickering, golden dots begin to lit as if they were tiny stars._

_“Ah, little one. Hello. I see you did not drink the tea.” Certain stars glowed in conjunction to it speaking._

_“Who am I speaking to?” Rey looked all around her but only saw the flickers of now millions of specks encircle her._

_“You know the answer.”_

_“I wasn’t aware the Force could do this.”_

_“Says the human girl who can time walk.” Rey frowned._

_“Have I done something wrong?” She tried moving in front of her, and while it felt she was making distance, the balls of light looked no closer._

_“You have and you have not.” She stopped her attempt._

_“Are you disappointed in my the ability to time walk?” She noticed a ball in the far distance grew brighter and larger._

_“No, my child. I am simply presenting you a true choice not decided by fear.”_

_“Of?”_

_“You can either embrace the difficulties of seeking balance within your galaxy or I can return you to where your family is before you were lost as a child. Do not feel as if by choosing the latter, another would not take your place.” Rey stared at a light that was beginning to grow larger than the rest._

_“Why am I receiving a choice in this? Aren't there bigger concerns?_

_“Right now, this is my biggest concern; you fight without purpose. Having friends isn't enough to prevent yourself from being tainted. I have grown tired of creating life only to see it destroyed, balance must be reached”_

_“So then why not create the balance yourself?”_

_“I am of one ideal with only the desire to create. If I were to create balance, there would be no existence of life produced as with life comes difference. With difference comes unbalanced. That is why I have allowed users to manipulate the Force to seek balance for the good of creation.”_

_“Does this mean balance will never be achieved?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“So then how can I do it?” Rey crossed her arms._

_“You only need to seek balance. Eventually though, a side will teeter and balance will break but that will be for another user to seek.” Rey looked at her wrist into the stone for what felt like a few minutes._

_“I can’t seek balance if I’m unsure of myself or without ties to a purpose.”_

_“Correct.”_

_“A sense of justice isn’t enough?”_

_“Do you feel as if morality is enough to persuade yourself to always do right? A freedom fighter is just another terrorist.” She felt the image of Jayson._

_“What happened?”_

_“You fell corrupt.”_

_“Why is he still here if trillion lives are gone?” She felt pain reach her chest and looked again at the lights as images of lives were passed through each light. Rey looked all around as she saw small faces pass through each of the billion of lights that span around her._

_“Is there not a truer punishment?”_

_“You kept him alive to punish me?” The singular light in front of her seemed to be the size of Rey’s torso now._

_“And to myself.” Her frowned deepen._

_“Why give me the choice then? Why not just place me with my family and make sure I’m not involved?” The balls of lights begin to dim around her._

_“Is that what you want?” Rey watched as the area slowly darken with the growing light in front of her increased. She wanted her family, to grow up without the pressure of saving the galaxy, and to not spend so many years on Jakku but she wanted a future with her friends even more. A future where the students lived. Where Ben can earn his redemption. Images of Finn flashed in front of her alone with others she felt close with bombarded the space. Until all that remained was the face of Ben Solo staring right back at her with a large grin. She sighed. Her purpose was more than likely tied to him._

_“Did I choose to fight in this timeline, too?” There was only a hundred stars left beyond the larger than Rey star around._

_“I gave you no choice then; I simply watched instead.”_

_“Then I choose to strive for balance.” The last of the small star went out yet the largest one turned a brilliant white light that caused Rey to shield her eyes. A moment passed and it dimmed down and she placed her hand down to see Lux Tenebras standing in front of her, younger than she remembered._

_“That, my dear, is why I am going to you to teach you time walking. Well, in your past. However, you keep putting off what drove you to exist until after this conflict for balance ends. I do apologize for being so drastic here but you will be unfortunately busy soon and without purpose, you really will risk it all. Defeating Snoke can't be what keeps you going” She placed her hand over Rey’s wrist and the stone shattered as it fell off into dust. Rey looked between angry and upset._

_“Was any of this real?” Lux faced her with a painful expression._

_“No. But you_ **_are_ ** _more than capable of making this path happen.”_

_“Why would you show me a child between Ben and I?”_

_“What do you think will happen if you’re caught by the First Order?” She paled. Lux placed her hand on Rey’s shoulder and squeezed._

_“Relax, thatwas not the reason. I was simply showing you of a possibility beyond Snoke. However, I appeared to misjudge your feelings. But don’t just jump into action with no regards if you die along the way._

_"But you don’t have to overthink the child either.” It didn’t stop Lux from giving a suspicious smile. “Now, remember this discussion. Remember to seek your purpose and follow your decision. Do not forget your strengths in the future.” Rey looked up at her._

_“You couldn’t just, oh, I don’t know, make a dream sequence or vision instead of something like this?” Lux gave a deep laugh and just shook her head._

 

   Rey was standing in front of Rhean who had tears in his eyes. The fourteen year old suddenly leapt in surprised from her sudden reappearance. Luke was already running towards them when he too abruptly stopped to determine the next course of action. The children were right behind him, already muttering that Rhean 'turned bad too'. Rey felt Ben was banging against her wall trying to reach her and out of sympathy for putting him through that, let him in. It was silent among the group as Rey tried to look back at Luke. However, her minor movement cause Rhean to tried and bolt away, Rey grabbed his arm before he was able to sprint off. She yanked him into her chest and suddenly everyone was reacting. The silence was over.

   Rhean started crying for forgiveness, the children yelling as Luke tried to speak but failed to find the right words. The only one not making a noise was Rey, herself, and Ben who was just waiting for a moment to speak. Rey refocused on Rhean who was still crying.

   “It’s okay, Rhean. It's fine” Rhean only cried into Rey more, now had his arms wrapped around her, she looked at Luke. “Master Luke, get the students back." Rey rubbed his back. "I’m fine. Really. Rhean. Look at my wrist.” He slowed down his crying and moved his head and saw only blood encrusted around a cleaned area of skin where he had placed the stone.

   “Master, I swear, I didn’t do it with malicious intention.”

   “I know. You’re not in trouble. Well…” Rhean who had stepped back now and had already gained puffy eyes. “You’re definitely going to do more meditation practices. But for now go join the others. We'll talk about this soon.” She looked at Luke who was still standing only twenty yards away, waiting. Luke told Taia to take the children inside as he walked back over.

   “What just happened?”

   “A lot. I need to go somewhere. I’ll just going to time walk and be back soon. I’ll explain everything when I come back.” He gave her a concerned look. “Rhean is fine, it wasn’t a betrayal.” Luke grumbled on his way into the dwelling of being left out yet again on something important.

_Are you secured?_

_Yes._

_Coordinates now._

_You can’t just waltz in the base._ Rey rolled her eyes.

 _I’m not. I’m just going to waltz right into your room._ Understanding passed through him and he provided where he was and an exact image of his room. She quickly closed her eyes and gladly allowed the Force to flow through her as she formed a lowercase ‘t’ and opened a portal into Ben’s room and quickly stepped through. She walked into a dark large empty room with Ben standing in front of the door with only an undershirt and knee length slacks. Rey blushed remembering Jayson and suddenly felt awkward. Ben took the moment, studying her, and then broke the silence.

   “I thought you were a time walker.”

   “Present is still time walking. Can anyone enter that door?”  

   “No. Even if they could, there’s a living room they’d have to enter first and we’d hear them. What happened?” He looked suddenly uncomfortable at directing her to be in his bedroom but she waved it off as if she didn’t care.

   “What’d you feel?”

   “You completely disappeared for a minute. You were beyond death.” Rey walked to the only place to sit down, his bed. She looked at the nightstand where his mask laid.

   “Yeah, well. Apparently the Force was really determined to speak to me” His neutral face cracked with only showing mild interest. “Oh, and show me what a kid of our would look like.” Admitting such a thing was worth seeing his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	21. AKA Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey meets Ben again on her own terms.

   The back of Ben’s head bumped against the door and he slid down to his bedroom’s carpet. His face was mixed with curiosity and confused but Rey noticed no obvious emotion of disgust. She stopped studying his face, choosing to not focus on what that could possibly mean and ignore the feeling building in her chest to lay her back against the uncomfortable bed.

   “How do you even sleep on this?” He stayed quiet, seemingly focused on the carpet near her, Rey balled up his blanket into her fists, waiting to the awkwardness to dissolve. Moving the sheets caused his scent to meander around her. Rey suddenly felt self conscious of herself, unsure of what was going wrong with her. “If it makes you feel better, the kid looked just like you.” 

   “I wasn’t aware you were okay with Snoke’s plan.” Rey gave a grunt and pushed herself up to see Ben had settled in front of the door with a leg stretched out and the other prompt up. 

   “I’m not.” He simply rolled his eyes.

“Why’d you come here?” 

   “I…” She looked at her feet at realizing she could have just explain through the Force bond. “You were worried. I figured this was the better plan.” 

   “You decided to risk everything to come talk in person? Go to one of the most protected base for comfort? I don’t do comfort, Rey. My uncle is the better option for what you just went through.” 

   “You were worried?”

   “You disappeared and then suddenly came back. More confused than worried.” She stood up quickly, angrily looking at Ben. 

   “Fine. I’ll go back. Sorry for wasting your time. I’ll contact you in two days to share Rhean’s progress like normal.” She closed her eyes and focused on creating a portal before being shoved onto the bed with a heavy weight on top of her.

   “No. Stay.” Ben grumbled forcefully as she opened her eyes to him was staring at her, a plea from his eyes with his neutral face filling up with cracks. Her annoyance of his action quickly switched to panic as she realized just how she was pinned down and very aware of how her legs had unintentionally already wrapped around his. She quickly moved them and shoved him off. 

   “Quit lying to me then.” She sat crossed leg on the bed, pretending to be correcting her cloth over her ankle to hide her blush. Ben gave a huff to acknowledge her statement and sat against the wall closest to her, only a few feet away. “I apparently don’t have a strong reason or purpose for fighting. And something’s going to happen to break me.” She felt him gaze focus on her intensely. “I think something worse than a simply plan of Snoke trying to breed us.”

   “All I’ve been told is to retrieve you for that purpose before your death.” 

   “Yes. I don't know if he's behind this or not, but chances are, he is.” She started unwrapping her leg bindings and retying them to an uncomfortable tightness. “I think someone was trying to coerce the Force into giving me information. I was meditating while Rhean finished studying the stone, that, for your information, was a favorite item of your master.” Ben started to speak but she lifted her hand to let allow her to continue. “I’ll get back to that in a bit. Someone detoured me from returning to my body and tried to show me things. I think I saw a successful breach of Snoke’s base. And your death.” She looked up to see him unimpressed.

   “I already know I’m going to die.” She huffed.

   “Sure, no problem for you. Clearly others can’t be bothered by that.”

   “Are you saying you’re bothered by it?” Rey flinched.

   “Two of the images refused to show but I think I could make out a family portrait but the second one was too smashed with colors to determine anything.”

   “It’s not from the same person who gave Rhean the stone?”

   “No, Lux Tenebras couldn’t have.” Anger radiated from Ben and she quickly continued. “Don’t bother getting upset. I’m pretty sure she’s the physical embodiment of the Force. If she really wanted me to see if, I don’t think she would have gone in that direction. This was someone who knew I prefer to see the Force that way.”

   “I thought Lux Tenebras was the first Sith Lord.”

   “I was taught she was the assumed first Force user. Turns out she’s just the Force who decided to teach how to manipulate… herself… to find balance. That’s actually a lot more strange than when she presented herself.”

   “You’re confusing me and all over the place. When does she get involved? And the kid?” Rey sighed and stood up from the bed. Ben eyed her cautiously in case she tried to leave again, however, she sat in front of him, knees barely touching his.

   “I probably should just show you everything.” He nodded as permission and she placed her palm against his cheek. He already closed his eyes and failed to noticed a blush forming over her own cheeks. Rey sighed and focused on her memories and started pouring the events into his being. She felt his movements as he watched her when she interacted with Rhean to her suddenly standing in the beach. She could feel his helplessness as she broke down and how he stiffen when Jayson approached her. It seemed Ben focused more on their teenager instead of their conversation and chuckled when Rey immediately bolted instead of following Jayson’s instructions. He guided through the memories with ease as he recognized the island much sooner than Rey and watched as she entered the cave without bothering for a light.

   The entire time she was within the Force he was on edge, confusion matched his eyes as he studied the lights surrounding Rey. Mixture of irritation, aggravation, and unadulterated awe followed him as he watched Lux Tenebras form and spoke to Rey. She moved her palm away but not before her worry over his bloody imaged accidentally followed to him. She watched his face crack a bit more from it with a guilty pang in her throat.

   “It does bother you.” He looked to her as he attempted to gain control over his emotions.

   “You seemed awfully upset.”

   “I probably killed you. Why wouldn’t I be upset?” He knit an eyebrow up.

   “Why are you surrounded by all of this? Why would the Force get specifically involved with you?” She shifted uncomfortably.

   “I don’t know.”

   “No. Of course, you don’t. That would be too simply. But she’s right. A strong desire to protect doesn’t keep you on the Light side; wanting to protect my grandmother was what prompted Darth Vader’s rise. And, I could have just as easily persuade you to join me if your traitorous friend didn’t get to you first. If I had known you were so flexible in the beginning, I wouldn't have given up on finding you.”

   “Finn was wasted on your side anyway.” They sat there inches away as she determined what she needed to do next as Ben broke the silence between them.

   “Rey.” His utterance of her name was unexpectedly soft and she looked towards him. It struck her as odd as he appeared to be longing at something. His body was seemingly restrained and stiff as if he was trying to make sure he didn’t move. Rey realized he was giving her a choice. A choice she wasn’t sure she fully understood the consequences of; however, her mind seemed to make it for her as she leaned the few inches towards him.

   Her shift of movement broke Ben’s remaining self control as he reached for her to pull her body closer. Their kiss met awkwardly yet neither noticed their inexperience as she was tugged between his legs. They sat there with Ben’s back against the wall and Rey’s legs sprawled across his leg. One of his arms was gripping her side to keep her balanced, the other had made it’s way to rest between her neck and jaw. Rey clutched a handful of his undershirt, keeping him close. Her mind was getting lost as she felt his barriers wash away and vulnerable. Her chest seemed to relaxed.

   After a few minutes of almost peacefulness, reality caught up to Rey and she pushed away with a need for air. She climbed up and saw Ben anxious on what she could be doing next, his walls already building back up. “I can’t.” He gave a curt nod and looked away; a mask back over his emotions. Rey gave a soft sigh and focused on creating a path back to Luke at the students. She stepped out of the portal as she saw Luke enter the dwelling and followed after him. 

   Twenty minutes later she felt Ben angrily swing his saber into an unsuspecting wall from another room, her mind wrapped his in helplessness as he destroyed the room; twisted with rage and understanding of her unspoken reasons.

* * *

 

 

   It took two hours for Rey to calm the children down, even with Luke and her ‘secret weapons’ assistance sans Rhean who was placed in Rey’s room. The stone was already stashed in Luke’s room before she tried to explain to the others that Rhean was not a bad person and not in trouble. Sesha refused to leave Rey’s arms the entire two hours as if a three year old was the solution to keeping Rey out of danger. They had given up on the rest of the day’s lessons and just sent the children to quietly play into bedtime. Her group stayed back waiting until Luke grabbed Rhean to join them. 

   The lot sat in the kitchen, Rhean sitting near the door away from the others out of self placed banishment. Rey was exhausted as she watched Taia look from her to Rhean to her again after she explained briefly of the last couple hours that, at this point, was an entire day for her. She left much out beyond an old master trying to teach her something by doing a drastic trick and focused more on Snoke's connection to the stone.

   “Why don’t we throw stone into a blackhole?” Taia looked pleased with herself.

   “It would possible but we would need to get pretty close to do so. I was thinking of tossing it into a star. But both of which requires it ejecting it far enough away for me to be in a survivable zone and not risk it somehow being picked up by something or someone else. But a star gravitational pull is easier to pull out of than a black hole's.” Rey rubbed her temple. 

   “We should do that. It’ll give us a chance to prove ourselves, right, Master Luke?” Dalo spoke. Luke seemed just as exhausted as Rey and was studying the cup in his hand. 

   “You’re still dead to the galaxy. We can’t risk your Force being recognized. But the stone should be destroyed, we’ve gained information on Snoke’s weaknesses. It’s served its use.”

   “I don’t think we’re really ready anyway.” Kamm twirled her hair and looked at the group for confirmation of her statement. Rey nodded her head and pushed from her chair.

   “You aren’t. But I think we should have morning combat practice as well.” Luke shook his head in agreement. “I don’t want everyone to worry about this, for now just enjoy the rest of the evening with the others. Rhean, go ahead and head back to my room. I’ll be there soon.” The others trailed out of the kitchen until it was just Luke and Rey. 

   “It concerns me about what’s implied about your future.” Rey crossed her arms.

   “I know.”

   “You seem to have an idea of purpose, though.” 

   “What?”

   “It’s quite obvious.” She narrowed her eyes and tightened her crossed arms. “Are you telling me you didn’t bolt straight to my nephew when something happened to you?” Her cheeks flushed and Luke seemed to suddenly feel uncomfortable at how close he was and started rubbing the back of his neck. “Just think on that. Go comfort Rhean before he tries to punish himself by trying to leave with the stone for you.” He turned into a cabinet to rummage for food and ended the conversation. She walked out with a puzzled look and her chest heavily with indescribable emotions. 

   Rhean was sitting on the ground, meditating when Rey walked in. 

   “And to think, just think morning, you were complaining of meditating.” He opened his eyes and looked at the ground.

   “This morning I didn’t try to send my Master into another universe.” She saw across from him. 

   “It wasn’t that extreme. But next time, don’t accept anything from strangers. I thought you’d know that by now.” She smiled but Rhean stilled stared at the ground with guilt oozing from him. She bent down to his level, “Rhean, it’s okay. I don’t think less of you. You’re not a bad apple nor a dangerous student. In fact, I think I’ll let you sleep in tomorrow, okay?” That cause Rhean to laugh.

   “Master, you’re only doing that so you can sleep in.” She smiled.

   “Right you are.” She noticed the dark text from the book vendor opened and looked back at Rhean. “Did you start reading the text?” His short lived smile was gone.

   “I’m sorry. I tried meditating the entire time earlier but then it started calling towards me. This one seems eager to teach and it didn’t feel as perverted as the stone.”

   “Did you learn anything?”

   “Yes.”

   “Okay. You can teach me tomorrow after morning’s combat lesson. I hadn’t worked out much of the text so that will be tomorrow’s goal. Get some sleep.” He nodded and stood up but hesitated at her door frame. Rey got up herself and laughed. “You can take it with you. But you are not to allow the others near it. I haven’t studied it fully and don’t know if it could harsh the others. Return it to Luke before sleeping tonight.” Rhean eagerly grabbed the text and bowed in appreciation. Rey barely acknowledge it and had crawled into bed before the door had fully shut. Exhaustion overtaking her before her head hit the pillow.

   She dreamed of two sea creatures circling each other that night with a new understanding of longing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I may be slowing down a bit, I'm working on a couple projects and work to balance out. However, the goal is to keep updating at least every other day.


	22. AKA The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey feels the stress of the last couple of weeks with an additional task she must choose to accept.

   Rey awoke groggy in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep. She felt Ben already alert and chose to leave him be as she staggered to the fresher. The rest of the dwelling was still quiet, unaffected by her movements as she stepped out of the fresher, still wrapped in a towel only to find Han Solo standing over her small desk looking at the returned text. He turned around to see Rey and immediately turned back. Rey gave a cranky grunt and walked back into the fresher with clean clothes to change in.

   She returned a few minutes later, Han turned back as if he had just gotten there .“Han.” He gave a smirk.

   “How’s it going, kid?” Rey started brushing through her hair.

   “I’m a bit surprised to see you here. I’ve been expecting Master Skywalker to show up for a while, but not you.”

   “I’m hurt.” He pouted and she just shrugged playfully. “Just wanted to check on you, that’s all.”

   “I’ve been busy. But Ben’s fine. Don’t give me that look, you most definitely wanted to know about him.” 

   “You caught me. He’s okay?”

   “I wouldn’t go that far. I may have made his psyche worse, so I can’t say how he’s really doing.” She finished tying her belt and grabbed her lightsaber while avoiding his eyes. "But he's doing fine, I guess. At least, as fine as you can be for still having to fight against his mother."

   “I doubt you could have damage him anymore than Leia and I." He laughed and stepped away the desk. 

   "He spent an entire week locked in his room when he was five because I wouldn’t let him drive the Millennium Falcon. And _that_ was with the promise of letting him drive when he turned six if he didn’t tell  his mother.” She chuckled as she left her room, Han followed after after giving the text one more hard look.  

   They walked out of the dwelling where the humidity already begun to wash Rey in. They walked a bit away heading deeper into the wooded marsh for a bit. When they reached a point into the wood where it was nearly impossible to walk through, she turned around to face Han.

   “So what’s really going on?” He studied her face and sighed.

   “I must be getting old if I’ve become this readable. Or I've been with Leia too much lately. Doesn't matter what I say, she just knows.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Your friends are leaving for another mission.” 

   “Yeah?”

   “Leia received word of a possible location where Snoke is hiding out. They’re going on a stealth mission to confirm it.” She walked backwards into a tree.

   “How many others are going?”

   “Just them?”

   “Why would General Leia approve that? Everyone knows they can’t be stealthy even if their lives depended on it!” Fear was gripping her core and she poured everything into her mind to prevent Ben from feeling her emotions, last thing she needed was to have him overrun her with questions. Han matched her worries with his own look of concern.

   “She didn’t approve _specifically_ for that reason. But they grabbed a ship and headed anyway. Leia had to make it look like she ordered them so they wouldn’t face being court martial when they come back.”

   “They’re a bunch of morons.”

   “I’m sure they’ll be fine. I just wanted to give you a warning." She leaned her head against the bark. " I believe they felt this would allow you to accomplish your own goals sooner.” She looked away with guilt. 

   “Where’s the base?”

   “Elom.” Her control shattered as she felt everything around her prepare to flare. She looked at the ghost of Han Solo tensely.

   “I really do appreciate anytime I see you but I need you to go.” He looked at her alarmed at her straightforwardness. 

   “You can’t go there, Rey.” 

   “I won’t. You can even come back in a bit to check on me.” He raised an eyebrow, unbelieving.

   “Time is kind of your thing, isn’t it?” She gave any annoyed groan.

   “Don’t parent me, Han. I wouldn’t use it so carelessly. Just… I’ve had a couple of rough days. I need to… focus.” She felt the wood start to bend around her, cracking at it's limit of bending. He nodded with worry in his eyes.

   “I’ll be back later. Leia had some other news to pass on. But don’t make me ground you, kid. I don’t need to be alive or genetically related to ‘parent’ you.” She already felt shame creep up on her face and looked up to see she was alone. 

   She felt her fear bubble up and unwittingly toggled her saberstaff and thin trees begun to fall around her. Ground mixed with marsh water and roots pushed around her as she felt energy roar through her. She was lost with only the feel the heat from her staff keeping her grounded physically. The Force washed around her pulsating angrily. Wood splintered around her as she felt guilt overcame her being. She failed to even noticed the screams hauntedly she was giving nor the building pressure pushing through her mind until it finally broke through.

_    REY. Get ahold of yourself! _ She dropped to the ground with the saberstaff thrown haphazardly across the now small clearing she created. Somewhere along her breakdown, her ability to breathe was forgotten and Rey fell to all fours unable to catch it.  _ You’re hyperventilating. _

_    Go away, I got this. _ She felt as if she was dying with her throat closing in with an impossibly fast heartbeat clawing out of her rib cage.  __

_    I can’t. Especially when you’re like this. It’s bleeding into me. Just look at the ground, focus on an object.  _

   She looked at the ground to a tiny rock half embedded into the muddy dirt.  _ You want me to die while watching a rock? _ He gave a growl.

_    You’re not going to die. You were the fine the last time you broke down. _  She caught a breath and gasped hard for it.  _ Don’t gasp, just let it happen. Look at the rock and think about breathing normally.  _

   Minutes passed as she made enemies with the rock when she finally was able to breathe mostly normal with a few hiccups. Her energy was drained and she crawled over to a half destroyed trunk. Ben’s presence was thick and invading to her mind.

_    They’re heading your way. _

_    Who is? _

_    My friends. They think Snoke is there. _

_    Two people are going to attack the base? _

_    Don’t be daft. It's a stealth mission. _

_    I can’t protect them, Rey. Don’t ask for that. _

_    I’m not. I just... they’re two dumb idiots in love.  _

_    Okay? So you lose yourself over that concept? I didn't realize you struggled at love.  _ She used the Force to collect her saberstaff and tentatively stood up.

_    Of course not. And besides, you’ve destroyed things for less. _ She staggered through the marsh in silence.

_    Is this over yesterday? _

_    What were you doing up right now? Your sun cycle is similar to mine and it’s still the middle of the night. _ Ben shifted within her thoughts.  _ Don’t lie. I can feel that.  _

_    J _ _ ust go back to bed. You’re just being unreasonable right now.  _ She stomped through the marsh.

_    I didn’t ask for your help anyway. Just let me know if they get caught .  _ She felt him recoil but noticed he was still monitoring her. Rey scoffed but felt a little relieved he hadn’t completely abandoned her. Though she spent the rest of the short walk back berating herself for being so indecisive and rude. She looked up from her personal scolding to see a teenager standing outside looking towards her. 

   “Rhean, what are you doing up? I told you that you could sleep in today.” He studied Rey for any injuries and relaxed having found none.

   “I thought you were injured, I expected Master Luke to come tumbling out to seek you but no one else seemed to come and then you were fine.” 

   “What are you talking about?”

   “You were screaming. But I couldn’t physically hear you. It was like you were crying out into the Force. But now I don’t know since no one else appears to have noticed it.”

   “I…” She looked down at Rhean who looked as if he had no luck finding rest either and couldn't bring herself to lie. “I lost myself. My only guess is that I reached within the dark side and your sensitivity to it felt it. I apologize for putting you through that.”

   “What did it feel like?” His face looked eager for knowledge.

   “It is not something I wish to repeat. I don’t seek power like you do, Rhean. The feeling of blind rage and its powers felt more like a punishment than a gift.” She pat his shoulder and stood next to him as they faced towards the marsh. “Is it worth the battle to persuade you to go back to bed?” He simply nodded as he watched the water move among the plants, she sighed. “So Snoke’s weakness includes a lack of lightsaber?” Rhean leaned against the wall and slid down with Rey imitating him.

   “Yeah. The stone said he kept breaking the crystals so he just focused on using the Force to destroy.”

   “Did the stone make note of his techniques?”

   “A few, including a lightning technique Sith Lord used. He was good at creating illusions too. Would make soldiers turn on each other believing the enemy was next to them; sometimes doing it to his own men out of boredom. He’s powerful in the Force, but it doesn’t really recall him actually ever fighting.”

   “That will come in handy.”

   “Some of the techniques I recognized from your text.” She leaned her head into the wall.

   “I hope it’s also not Snoke’s.”

   “No, they differed slightly, as if Snoke was too impatient to follow directions. But I think it’s the same style of sorts, as if maybe from the same training he received.” 

“Should a fourteen year old be this observant?” Rhean laughed.

   “People are easy for me to study.”

   “Oh?”

   “Like Master Luke. He completely blames himself over this, still. And even though we didn’t die, he still blames himself over the delay of our childhood and the family members we can’t see or have lost since then. Master, you need to watch out for him- he’ll make sacrifice for his own redemption.”

   “Noted.”

   “He doesn’t want us to help you.”

   “Rhean,  **I** don’t want you all helping either.”

   “Refusing help is going to get you killed.”

   “I’m not going to rely on children to fight this war.”

   “Master, you’re nine years older than me, the fate of the galaxy shouldn’t be relying on a twenty-three year old but here we are.” She rolled her eyes.

   “Do you have any family still waiting on you?”

   “No. My parents died during the first year of training. Master Luke said a sickness washed through my village but I stole his holodeck a few months later and found out a group of bandits had destroyed my homeland.” He fidgeted and played with a broken stick from the ground.  

   “I never told him I found out the truth. I figured he wanted to prevent me from falling closer into the dark side but all it did was make me want to seek solace in it.” They sat in silence as the clouded skies begun to light up. 

   “We all make mistakes.” Rhean rolled his eyes.

   “I know we do. I wasn’t upset at him for covering it up, I was more upset he didn’t believe in me. Even though he was right to be worried. I won’t ever become a true Jedi but I’m glad now. But you’re one to talk. You have the ability to time walk and you go and fight with your boyfriend.”

   “Rhean, I have no idea what you’re talking about and you’re forgetting I’m still your master, even at dawn.” She looked at him who continued to draw into the sand. “ _Especially_ at dawn.”

   “Master, I told you. People are easy to read. I know you’re not telling the others because you worry it could be used in the wrong manner. And that someone powerful must have taught you. And it wasn’t Master Luke, such is skill is most likely, dark. Probably the same person who gave me the pebble. I also know you won’t teach anyone else the skill. Although, watching you and who you are, it’s probably more of the Force simply moving you to where you seek because it wants you to go there rather than a specific teaching.

   “And It’s stupid obvious you guys have a Force bond and no one does that with an enemy or even a close friend. You’re making a mistake by constantly denying the truth. He clearly accepted it by then when he helped you all those years ago.” She grumbled angrily.

   “I assure you, I don’t need love advice from a fourteen year old.”

   “You’re not denying anything.”

   “Rhean.”

   “Master.” She playfully shoved him and stood up.

   “You may have a point about the time walking, actually. But all the more reason as for it to be kept a secret.” He nodded as if that was already given. “You’re to replace Kamm’s breakfast duty today. And lead morning meditation. And wake me up before combat training. That’s for using your observations too well.” Rhean simply nodded with a broad smile as she entered the dwelling. 

 

   She was only a few hours into her nap before she woke up from a loud bang inside her mind.

_    Rey. _ She bolted up, dazed and Force grabbed her lightsaber.

_    Oh. What? _

_    They’ve been taken. _ Rey stood up. 

_    Where? _

_    It’s a trap, scavenger. What if this was what Lux was talking about? I can’t protect you if you come.  _

_    I don’t need your protection. Where are they? _

_    Rey, please. Think rationally.  _

_    They’ll be killed if I don’t come, yes?  _ She felt his hesitation, his desire to protect her, to even give her the wrong location if it meant she would be spared..

_    Yes.   _ Rey grabbed her supplies and rushed through the door.

_    I’m going to ask one more time then; where are they?  _ She walked into the middle room with the floor littered with children attempting to meditate.  _ Please, Ben. _ Rhean looked up at her and then to her bag. Luke walked out of the kitchen with a sandwich in hand to see Rey with a look of being caught for eating while supposedly teaching until he saw her bag. 

_    Okay. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	23. AKA Inception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey is a total badass; also known as the chapter where Rey stops letting her emotions run wild.

   Rhean stood up nosily causing the others to break their own meditation. He appeared to not noticed his own interruption as the teenager wearily studied Rey for answers. Instead she looked beyond the students distracted on her task of repeating the coordinates Ben just passed on to her. Luke turned to one of the younger students closest to him.

   “Sara-Lynne, can you please take the class outside for a stretch? You all have been doing well this morning and deserve to run around for a bit.” The eight year old nodded excitedly as she practically bolted up at being chosen as the leader and begun to lead the children out of the room as Rey’s group lagged behind once she gave an acknowledgement for them to stay. They circled around quiet but curious. She looked up from the wall with a sudden realization of Ben was actually doing already up and gave a frustrated sigh as she used his current distraction to withdrawn from his mind from sheer anger. 

   “Finn and Poe have been captured.” Luke stopped eating his sandwich and frowned as the teenagers tried to figured out who they were. She shook her head.“They’re my best mates who fight under Master Luke’s sister.” She narrowed her eyes at Luke. “Why aren’t you surprised?” Luke shrugged but signs of worry slipped through his persona.

   “Han stopped by earlier to deliver intel for me. He mentioned they were on quick mission for surveillance and that you were told earlier and unhappy. He wanted to make sure you were still-”

   “I’m going to go rescue them.” Luke rubbed his temple, suppressing a sigh. Rhean said what the others were thinking.

   “It’s a trap.” The room looked at Rey who shrugged indifferently.

   “I know that.” Taia looked mortified.

   “You’re still going to try to go?”

   “Their lives are in danger, I can’t just ignore them simply because it’s more than likely a trap. I can’t rely on the Resistance to grab them- a rescue mission from them would more than likely cause more casualties.” She took a hard swallowed. “I’ll be in-and-out. No problem.” Rey gave a false bravado but the group fidgeted among them as Sanni particularity appeared pale with dread.

   “Are we going to come with?” Rey tighten her bag’s strap. The redhead looked as if he was about to be sick with the others looked sheepishly unprepared.

   “No. There’s no reason to bring you all out of hiding for a recovery mission.” He took a deep breath of relief. Rhean glared at Luke, who was staying uncharacteristically quiet.

   “Aren’t you going to stop her?” The older man rubbed his temple again and groaned.

   “I could, but she would somehow managed to leave and come back as if she didn’t. I-” He looked over to Rey. “We need to let Leia know. We’re too far away to help you should you fall into their hands and it would take too long to send an update to the Resistance for support if we wait.” She nodded. 

   “Go ahead and contact Han or Master Anakin; have them pass the message to General Leia.” She looked over at Rhean who was getting more irritated by the minute. “In the meantime, I’m giving you all the task of getting rid of the stone.” The students nodded and huddled together to start discussing their new assignment with obvious relief over their faces of not having to leave yet. Rhean stood away from the group, waiting for Rey. She approached the boy and withdrew from Ben. A feeling of doubt and fear washed over her but she swallowed any concern and smiled at him.

   “If something happens to me, make sure that stone never returns.” He looked up with anger and fear. “I believe in you, Rhean.” He half whispered to her.

   “You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?” Her chest tighten and placed her hand on his shoulder. 

   “I have a hunch; perhaps I would have picked it up sooner if I wasn’t blinded by my own feelings.” He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head. “Or perhaps I’m merely overreacting. Regardless, this is my choice.

   “I wanted to keep you all safe, but I’m afraid it was all a moot point. Start training, Rhean. The others are not ready and they’re going to need to see strength. If I don’t return, they will continue to allow their fear of the dark side to blind them. Use the text in my room with an open mind but be on guard for anything suspicious in it. For anything in that book you don’t understand, seek guidance from those still in the Force, especially Anakin Skywalker. And follow Master Luke, he will continue to lead you in my place. When the time comes, bring this.” She handed him her saberstaff. “Protect it for me until then.” He tried to avoid gripping the lightsaber but she shoved it into his arms.

   “Master, you can’t breech a base as  one person without so much as a lightsaber. That’s impossible” She responded with a wicked smile.

   “Take care of the others. Taia may be leading this group, but you’re the one who’ll keep them alive.” For the first time, Rhean speechless and not so secretly, in awe. She nodded goodbye to the others. Luke followed Rey out of the room and he stopped her outside in the thick humidity; the children were still running around as if they hadn’t noticed their own drenched skins.

   “Rey. You’re not sharing something.” She looked at Luke as calmly as she could.

   “Just an intuition. I think you may need to go to General Leia. She might not be trained as a Jedi but she is Force sensitive. She could help keep the students hidden until it’s time. Perhaps stop by a crystal planet and have Rhean, Taia, Nika, and Dalo make their lightsabers. The rest should wait, but you’re the master of them so I leave that under your discretion.” Luke tilted his head.

   “You believe they are going to need to fight? After the week long disagreement of saying not to?”

   “Hopefully not. Did you see their faces? They’re terrified, they’ll freeze up if they are shoved into it.” 

   “Why did you give Rhean your saberstaff?”

   “I spent six solid months just working mechanics on my staff and that was before finding my crystal- I’m not going to risk being taken” Luke suddenly looked as if he regret not trying to stop her sooner.  “Master, I’ll be fine. This isn’t the first base I’ve infiltrated.” He looked unconvinced. “Worry about the students, not me. Besides, I’ll be back before you know it.” He rubbed the back of his neck and watched for any cracks on Rey’s facade yet only met with inner calmness. 

   “Give the boys a punch on my behalf for forcing you to save their asses.” She smiled and walked away without looking back.

   The walk into the marsh was short but peaceful. The connection with Ben was suddenly very hollow but she gave no heed having already anticipating his withdrawn. She reached out into the Force for guidance but instead found strength within herself, refusing to let herself once again get overwhelmed with emotions.

   After a fifteen minute journey into the deeper parts of the marsh, she stopped moving. A sense of true calmness had washed over her and for the briefest of seconds, saw an image of what she needed. The silence within herself told her to embrace for the worse but she felt hope with the Force sharing an image she could use. Rey tighten her mind while taking a deep breath. Forming a lowercase ‘t’ and begun to concentrate with as much energy as possible then slammed her hands together creating a portal. She stepped in with one last look inside the marsh.

 

   After the last tense ten minutes, Rey stepped exhaustively out of her portal to the position Ben had given her with her mind open and vulnerable in hopes of alerting him. The empty room she now stood in was large with only a large window showing the vastness of space with two doors on opposite sides. The ground was soft but firm; built for combat practice. Suddenly the doors opened and 

   Rey gave no indication of a surprise and stood motionless as they circled around her, blocking any chance of running out. They did not draw out their guns yet  she could feel their anxiety and fear, not against her but from their superior. She complied in silence as they waited. 

   Five minutes passed in tension when the door in front of her opened and she saw the traditional outfit of Kylo Ren being the bodies of two stormtroopers. She felt his slam of his mind, indifferent to her presence both a mask physically and mentally.  

   “Scavenger.”

   “ **Ben** _. _ ” Anger radiated from him and the heartbeats of the soldiers echoed through her ears. He pulled out his lightsaber and it hummed behind the stormtrooper blocking the two of them, Rey looked angrily at him when the door behind her slid opened.

   “Nonsense, Kylo. No need to get upset already. After all, she’s our most prized guest.” Rey tried to stop the shudder from hearing his voice and reached deep inside for her fleeting calmness. She turned around as Kylo switched his saber off and gave a guarded look at Snoke with great annoyance. Her fear would not consume her or allow him to control her.

   “I didn’t appreciate the bounty hunters you sent to me. I figured I’d come in person to tell you I’m not interested.” Snoke gave a cold laugh.

   “My dear,  I’m afraid you make a terrible liar. We know you’re here for your friends. Did my apprentice tell you he’s responsible for this? Your weakness, it turns out, are two fools.” He paused to watch her reaction and she gave a false shocked face. His eagerness to dominate over her missed the facade and continued on. “Don’t be too upset at  _ him _ for creating this trap.” Rey merely rolled her eyes in annoyance. Snoke waved his hand. The two stormtroopers between them dropped dead. The tension among the other soldiers  rose but Rey hid her disgust both from his actions  _ and _ from seeing his person in full view. He stepped over their bodies as if they were nothing more than dirt that should be avoided and stood only a foot away. 

   “Your friends, though, are already dead. Shame since Captain Phasma was eager to finally have her old soldier back. But now she can stop stealing Hux.” He clapped his hands as if the issue was neatly solved. “I’ve destroyed your weakness, child. Embrace me as your new master and become stronger. I know how much Kylo Ren would want to have you by his side.” He reached to touch Rey’s hair but she shifted away. Snoke dropped his hand in annoyance as if he was the one disgusted by her touch. “This portal abilities he has described so well is simply too much to give up over such pathetic friends. I almost couldn’t believe you could just teleport into this room.” She clinched her fist, unable to hid the shock of Ben’s betrayal. Snoke smiled greedily from her reaction. “Oh, yes. He has told me everything.”  

   “Then you know I will not join you.” Snoke laughed.

   “You never had a-” The door behind him opened and a shaky stormtrooper walked in. Snoke looked behind him angrily. “WHAT?” The trooper faulted into the wall.

   “They..

   “The..

   “Gone..” He mumbled as he was then pushed further into the wall.

   “Would. You. Like. To. Repeat. That?” 

   “The two prisoners… they’ve escape.” His neck snapped and fell to the floor and anger flared in Snoke’s dark black eyes back at Rey who smiled sweetly.

   “I never had a?”

   She barely felt the agonizing pain of the Force as she laughed into unconsciousness. Snoked stormed out of the room before she reached the ground as Kylo Ren ordered stormtroopers to take their new guest to room 2-A.

 

* * *

 

 

   Seventeen minutes before her arrival of the combat room, Rey stepped out of her portal into a closet space just as the image had shown her. She closed her eyes and heard light movement as she felt only two life forces coming from the room beyond the door. She placed her finger on the door panel and the door slid opened. 

   Rey bolted out, catching the two stormtroopers off guard. She immediately waved her hand to knock them unconscious. They fell without a chance to hit the alarm button by the console. She stood still to hear for any other movement and looked over at the console once she was only met with silence. The room was one of the main security room with monitors projected in front of her. Most rooms were empty with one room showing six different cameras inside labeled on the screen as 2-A. This room was more furnished than the others but empty, and thus served no purpose, moved through the camera feeds until she found the one that showed her friends sitting on the ground with somber faces. Rey shook her head and looked at the console for the control panel to release the lock. She only had a few minutes to get them out.

   However, the system was foreign to Rey and after a tense moment of listening for movement, finally found what she was looking for and their door clicked. The video showed them looking up with guarded expressions, waiting for the guard who opened their door, she wasted no more time and ran out of the room to the hallway to their prison room. No guards met her as she ran down the hallway until she approached their room. She took a deep breath and walked in to see Finn and Poe charged at her. 

   “Hey!” Poe realized their savior and stopped his attack inches away from Rey who gave a smug look at her friends; however, Finn, still adrenaline rushed, tripped over his feet from the sudden stop and pushed into Poe causing the three of them to fall on top of each other. 

   Poe groaned and staggered to his feet and Finn looked sheepishly to Rey.

   “I swear, Finn, it’s amazing you survived so long within the First Order.” Poe pulled Rey up.

   “You shouldn’t have come, Rey. It was a trap. Kylo Ren will be here any moment.”  She rolled her eyes and shoved them back into their prison room as the boys looked confused by being dragged right where she just rescued them from.

   “First off, you’re totally welcome, great to see you two, and second, I figured as much. So just do what I tell you and don’t move excessively.” She stepped away and concentrated on creating a portal to the nearest base she could think of, her portal quickly formed after she placed her hands together. “Go in.” Poe looked horrified while Finn was captivated by the portal formed in front of them. She sighed. “Now. I’ll speed you up on information when we get out.” Finn practically jumped in as Poe looked at Rey again for reassurance and she pushed his body in and followed after.  

   It was a short trip, thankfully. And Rey stepped out sore from having to transport three people. They were standing outside of the base about fifty feet away and hadn’t gained the guard's notice yet. 

   “Rey. What was that?” She looked and saw Finn and Poe looking at her with concern.

   “Technically, I have the time to give you a full explanation, but I don’t want to overcomplicate this.” Confusion matched their faces and she tried again. “It’s an ancient teaching that no one knows about. You haven’t been reported missing yet, when the guard- who at this point should be reassigned for still not noticing us- comes, let them know Snoke is more than likely there.” They shuddered and Finn spoke.

   “We know. Kylo Ren told us.” She titled her head.

   “He talked to you?”

   “More like monologue that Snoke was the supreme leader who will enjoy killing us and was arriving soon enough. And that there were over twelve thousands stormtroopers on this base so to escape was impossible. Though, I guess, he didn’t anticipate you being able to do that.” 

   “Something like that.” Poe crossed his arms.

   “Why are we not going inside the base?”

   “I have to go back.” Finn walked over to her.

   “Why? We’re safe. And we have all the information General Leia needed!” She soaked in the details of his face, happy to see her friends in person, and then looked at Poe. Poe seemed to be able to connect the dots and took Finn’s hand.

   “He gave us that information on purpose.”

   “Yes.”

   “He knows you can create wormholes.”

   “That’s a simple way of putting it, but yes.” Finn looked horrified.

   “So you’re going to save him too?”

   “Well, I have a feeling he’s going to betray me momentarily. He’s going to have to save himself, but I  need to help him. Finn, don’t look so angry, it’s complicated. He made your escape easy, only two stormtroopers were stationed to watch you two. Don’t believe in him, believe in me. Plus I need to let myself get captured. I’m sure Snoke already thinks I’m falling into his trap and you guys suddenly missing is going to anger him.” 

   “You’re going to face him  _ now _ ?” Finn frowned. The guard still hadn’t noticed them.

   “No, I don’t think so. I think the Force needs me to experience something before I’m strong enough. I know this isn’t making sense but I will be okay. Snoke wants me alive, for now. Go tell the others.” She looked at her two best friends one last time before she created her portal. “Oh, head to General Leia. She’s going to need you two to babysit. After all, you guys kind of owe her.” Their faces blushed and she stepped through the portal with a smile. 

   After the last tense ten minutes, Rey stepped exhaustively out of her portal to the position Ben had given her with her mind open and vulnerable in hopes of alerting him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write.


	24. AKA Battle of Wills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey adjusts to imprisonment and meets a Knight of Ren.

   Rey awoke in the dark room on a stiff mattress with the only source of light coming from the edge of the door’s bottom. Her head was pounding and she felt a bruised rib on her right side when she moved herself up. Rey tried to bolt from the bed but a strap yanked her ankle and she fell onto the hard ground and groaned from the sudden pain.

   “You really don’t pay attention to your surroundings.” Ben’s voice filled the room as Rey allowed her eyes to focused within the darkness; seeing his silhouette near the door. She lifted herself to sit on hard mattress and rubbed her ankle.

   “There’s something off about this room.” 

   “It’s designed to hinder Force users. You may be able to move the bed a few inches but anything powerful will be meaningless. Which includes trying to escape through the same way you arrived here.”

   “Why are we in the dark?” 

   “I warned you what Snoke wanted.” The air went cold.

   “You’ve lied to me, purposely trapped my friends, given Snoke what little advantage I had,  _ and _ you’re going to rape me?

   "I don’t need to the Force to kill you, Ben.” Suddenly he shoved himself from his hidden corner, forcing himself on the other edge of the bed. He was only inches away from Rey who kept her body stiff, her body ready to fight against him. The air was seconds from shattering from their tension.

   “So do it then.” He whispered with a hint of wistfulness. She looked up in the darkness in sheer frustration and attacked him; swiftly and noisily as her restraint kept her cornered. 

   He didn’t fight back as she shoved her arm into his chest. They were dragged off the bed as she tumbled into him, shoving punches in all directions. They landed on his torso haphazardly as her knee was shoved into his thigh, her other leg was causing imbalance is the restraint held her ankle up in the air. She made an attempt to swing her arm for another punch as the restrain finally pulled her to its side. As she fell towards the bed, Rey shoved her other leg further into his knee and pushed off it to balance. He finally gave a groan as she heavily huffed to catch her breath. Ben tried to straighten up to sit but Rey gained a second wind and yanked the restraint as it ripped from the bed and dragged his body towards the bed. 

   She wrapped the now slacked restrained around his neck. Ben still did not fight back but she could feel swelling on his chest as her knee on top of him to stop his movement. She continued to pant as the makeshift noose covered his throat.

   “This?! This is what you want?” She tighten the restraint just enough to start hinder his breathing. “You think making me kill you will fix this mess? What is fucking wrong with you?” She gave another pull and released the restraint as she climbed on the rumpled bed. They stayed like that as she calmed her breathing, attempting to reached into the Force to find peace but failing. 

   “I meant to tell you but then you disappeared.” His voice was cracked and she flinched from causing enough temporary damage to his voice. 

   “I don’t appreciate being manipulated.”

   “I… it wasn’t my intention.”

   “Don’t lie to me.”

   “I couldn’t stop the trap. I thought not telling you would prevent this from occurring but you found out anyway.”

   “You told him what I can do.”

   “I told him you can move through space.”

   “I...that's almost... it didn’t occur to you to communicate any of this to me?”

   “You don’t trust me.”

   “You pull shit like this. Why would I trust you?” She could feel his eyes fall in her general direction, his question hanging in the darkness. “I clearly made a mistake with that.” He stood up and moved towards the door. 

   “I’ve being sent to a mission. My Knights will be responsible for your meals. Although I can’t promise those will be consistent. Snoke has already left but I bought you time beyond just a breeding vessel. 

   “He’s going to come back Rey. I know you’re going to fight against my men but fighting against  _ him _ … right now- don’t.” He placed a hand on the door. The lights came on and Rey shielded her eyes as they adjusted. Ben had already placed Kylo Ren’s mask when she lowered them. He reached almost turned back to her but changed his mind instead stared into the door before opening it. He spoke through the mask with an “I’m sorry.” And with that, set out.

 

* * *

 

 

   The problem with outer space is that time is basically impossible to chart without at least a window to show the stars. Rey believed about three days have passed but without such or even a strong feeling within the force she couldn’t be sure. And Ben was right, his men were inconsistent with meals. Although she believed they were doing that to further prevent her from keeping track of time. The overhead light never went off which was the only issue Rey was having and had deep purple bags underneath. 

   Rey sat on the floor with the cameras focused on her. The Force was weak around her as it struggled to form. Webs laid broken in front of her and she continued to meditate. Despite the poor ability to reach within the Force she was able to at least feel the life forces near her, with a radius of about fifty yards. There weren’t many around as she felt that this area was only designed to keep her around. The security room consistently housed about three stormtroopers and occasionally of a Force user barking orders at them. Most likely a Knight of Ren. None of which had presented themselves to Rey, simply moving her slab of meal through a locked opening the door. Right now the stormtroopers were oozing with anxiety with a particular toxic Force user walking in circles in the security room.

   She felt their movement leave eagerly towards her direction and Rey straighten her composure. The door opened but Rey kept her eyes closed, focusing on the sudden leak of Force trying to come in. The male walked in and the door shut angrily.

   “So you’re Kylo Ren’s whore.” His voice was dripping with annoyance.

   “I’m no one’s whore.” He laughed and started to move towards her.

   “Good to know. I’m Nelo Ren.” She lifted her hand to motion for him to stop.

   “I’m not yours either.” Rey opened her eyes to see an irritated light brunet covered in black stopped near her.

   “I’m not giving you a choice.” He walked up to her as Rey continued to meditate, closing her eyes again. The male bent down to her face. “Come on, woman. We can record it and send to Kylo. He’s the one that trapped you, yeah? Get your revenge on him.” He smelled of burnt skin and blood and Rey’s stomach turned from disgust. Her silence was her response. He grunted and grabbed her hair, scrunching up most of her top bun and pulled. “I assure you. It will hurt more if you don’t go along with it. He won’t be back for another week but maybe he’ll come sooner if he saw you begging out someone else’s name.” Rey opened her eyes in annoyance and grabbed his offending arm.

   “Did Snoke send you here?” Nelo looked at her with sudden narrowness.

   “Smart girl.” He grabbed more hair as Rey pushed his arm away and stood up as he did. Her head matched her shoulder and she harbored a bored expression.   

   “No thanks.” Nelo towered over her, his dark blue eyes harden into her as he grabbed her shoulder.

   “Apparently not that smart.” He tried to drag her towards the bed.

   “Are you sure you want to try? Your master is coming. Are you really sure you want to risk his anger? Careful, he’s walking down the hall.” Nelo dropped her and looked behind him.

   “He’s suppose to be on his mission.” He turned towards the door expecting to face Kylo Ren and instead felt the kick strongly against the center of his back. Nelo angrily turned back to meet an strong punch cracking his nose. Blood dripped out of it and his lip.

   “You’re right. My mistake.” Nelo attempted to use the Force to push her against the bed, a foot away but Rey stood still. “The Force isn’t controllable in here, dumbass. Return to Snoke. Tell him rapeing me won’t make me serve him. Brag to Master Ren that you’ve laid me for all I care- but if you so much as try to touch me without my permission, I will make you wish death reached your pathetic existence.” He straightened up without bothering to stop the soft flow of blood coming from his nose.

   “I see why you hold both their interests. It’s a shame you reek of light. You’d serve a better Master. I’d watch your back though, woman. I won’t forget this.” Nelo turned again towards the door and walked out without a look. 

   Rey didn’t receive any meals for the next four days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm working a lot more hours than normal so the updates of every other day may be improbable for a bit. But that works out. We're entering the more messy parts so I need more time to make sure everything flows instead of just throwing stuff around.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!


	25. AKA Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey makes an ally?

   The solid door opened roughly; Rey continued to lay down with an arm covering the never ending light and her eyes shut.

   “I hope you’re not expecting me to get up to greet you.” A bag was thrown on top of her stomach. 

   “I haven’t even said anything and your fangs are already out. Scoot.” Rey sat up to see tall purple hair and blue skin female clothed in back with a large tray of food, possibly a Twi'Lek or at least half of one. “I haven’t eaten either so we’re gonna share.” The woman gave a cool smile. Rey pushed the bag to the side of her lap.

   “Is this your way of showing the food’s not poisonous?” She grabbed a piece of fruit and lifted it to her lips. The woman gave a wicked smile.

   “It’s been almost five days since you’ve eaten. You might know hunger before this but are you really going to risk losing this food because of a possibility of posion?” She grabbed her own piece of fruit and took a bite. Rey watched her before following her actions and took a bite from her own fruit. “Of course, if there was poison, I assure you, I already built up a tolerance for it.” Rey rolled her eyes and grabbed a second piece.

   “Where’s the other Knight of Ren?”

   “His time to watch you is up. I’m Sylo Ren.” The woman looked at the bag. “Those contain a change of clothes. And no offense, you need a shower. You need to look presentable.” Rey looked at the food in her hand.

   “For what? And let me guess, black attire.” Sylo gave a large laugh.

   “No. It’s just dark blue. I’ve read about you, I’m sure if I gave you out of the Knights of Ren attires, you’d show up naked just to spite me.” The woman grabbed one more piece of food before getting off the mattress. Rey gave a hard look as the woman studied her. “Unlike my partner, I won’t be threatening you with anything drastic. I’ll come back in ten minutes so you can eat. I’ll walk you to my fresher so you can get cleaned up. I’d appreciate it if you hold off trying to escape for now.” She turned back and gave a wave as she walked out. There was something off about the woman and Rey rubbed her temple from frustration and looked back at the food.

* * *

 

   “You never said where we’re going?” Rey was almost done placing her hair in her traditional buns, fresh from her shower and changed into the dark blue loose fitting clothing. They were walking down a hall as Rey embraced the Force flowing through her strongly again, it was almost intoxicating in feeling all the life Force around her.

   “I didn’t, you’re right.” Sylo walked gracefully with a portable holodeck in hand and scrolling through information. She was walking at Rey’s speed as if she expected the days encased cause her muscle to atrophy; Rey allowed her to make that assumption and walked slowly.

   “Am I meeting with your master?” Sylo continued to read, Rey looked over and was unable to determine the language she was reading.

   “Hmm?” She looked at Rey. “Oh no. Master Kylo won’t be here for at least another day. Don’t tell me the rumors, are true?” Rey rolled her eyes.

   “I meant Snoke.” Sylo gave an amused smile.

   “You won’t be meeting him but he will be watching.” She closed the holodeck and placed it in her side pocket and turned a corner. Rey looked over to the other edge of the hall and sighed as she followed the knight. They walked through another hallway that gave out to a wide window of the loading dock with a dozen ships parked. Rey stopped and begun to mentally ticked off various ways she could hinder the knight and take a ship. Escaping through a portal would be improbable; her energy was low and may just kill her. Sylo broke her concentration by laughing.

   “Rey, I’m sure you’re more than capable of taking me on and escaping but if you failed, you’d just as easily die just as you’d probably die if you tried using the Force to escape.” Rey looked over in alarm. “Supreme Leader Snoke divulged that information to make sure we knew so you couldn’t surprise us. Come on, we’re almost there.” Rey gave an angry grunt and one last look at the dock before following her. Sylo filled the air with chatter of nothing important as they approached a familiar room. 

   Sylo opened the door and inside stood Nelo strapping white wraps around his wrists. He looked up and smirked. Rey looked at Sylo who gave a cheerful smile.

   “How do you feel about some physical activity?” Rey narrowed her eyes and walked in, Sylo following after.  

   “Against him?” Nelo broaden his smirk.

   “You already forgot my name, woman?” She rolled her eyes. 

   “I don’t waste memory on trash.” His smirk gone with anger in his eyes. He prepared a retort but Sylo spoke up.

   “Just some friendly skirmish, okay? No killing.” She gave an amused smile towards her partner. “ Supreme Leader Snoke just wants to see your skills, Rey. Did you want a wooden staff since your lightsaber was suspiciously not with you?” 

   “Where’s Snoke then?” Nelo gave a dark laugh.

   “Why would he be in your presence?” Sylo quickly spoke after him, ignoring his comment.

   “He’s just going to watch through this holocam.” She pointed to a corner camera. “Supreme Leader Snoke is unfortunately busy with battle plans.” Rey shook her head and gave an angry stare towards the camera then looked at Nelo who had grabbed a wooden sword from its place. 

   “Yeah, staff will work.” 

   “Excellent.” Sylo grabbed the staff and walked back over to Rey. She leaned towards Rey’s ear and whispered. “He’s a bit weak on his left side. And easy to taunt.” Rey took the staff, feeling for any unbalance and switching hand positions for an ideal attack carry as she looked at Sylo confused at the sudden piece of information. Sylo gave a secret smile as she walked away until the edge of the wall.

   “Now, Rey, I’d really suggest you that you not try to use this opportunity to try to escape or Nelo might not hesitate to just kill you.” She gave a cheerful smile as if she hadn’t just promised death and looked at the two. “Begin.”

   Rey gave a false attack stance and allowed Nelo to go defensive, his wooden sword hung in the air waiting for the strike that never came. Using his anticipation against him, she instead used the momentum of her stance to kick her leg into his knee. His leg gave up in surprise as he swung in offense. She easily dodge it as she heard Sylo laugh in amusement. 

   “How are you Knight of Ren?” Nelo gave an angry cry and swung again, hard and haphazardly towards Rey. Swing after Swing as Rey blocked, watching for openings as he showed her inadvertently his fighting style and his weaknesses. His attacks were vicious and despite Rey’s attempt to continue training while captive, the little food she had and confinement had lowered her stamina and realized she couldn’t handle many more swipes. But Sylo was right, he constantly left his left ribs exposed. 

   Rey counted as he repeated two swings from the right and half powered left attack. An obvious injury that never healed right, she blocked again as sweat accumulated across her brow. Nelo was only getting angrier and his stronger and sloppier. Rey barely blocked the last attack and Nelo smiled at her obvious luck and made his swing from his left, prepared to finish his pattern and end on his right side. Rey took a deep breath and allowed his wooden sword meet her shoulder, hard, as she then swung her staff against the left side of his torso. He gave a grunt at the sudden lost of air and she used that moment to stab the blunt end of her staff into his stomach, Nelo tried to not fall to his knees until Rey twisted and swung the staff towards his neck. She stopped barely a centimeter from his neck and looked at Sylo. 

   “Are we done?” Sylo clapped her hands together and gave a laugh.

   “Well done.” Nelo grunted in annoyance and grabbed the staff and tried to push it away as he approached Rey with violent intentions. He was stopped by a suddenly push and now stood feets away. “Don’t be a poor sport, Nelo.”

   “Come on, Rey. I’m sure you could eat again.”

  
  


   “You willing choose to be his partner?” Rey spoke half chewing a sandwich as Sylo stirred her drink. She smiled at Rey as if it was a pained thought. They were in Sylo Ren’s small living room as they ate.

   “It’s complicated. I won’t say he’s a good man or anything, but it’s definitely complicated.” Rey looked away.

“They allow you to date during all of this?” 

   “You mean, you’d join us if you were able to date Master Ren?” Rey rolled her eyes.

   “No thanks.” 

   “I tried. Although, I think that’s the intention of everything, maybe not the dating thing but other things.”

   “I’m aware of what Snoke hopes to gain.” Sylo raised an eyebrow.

   “Not a fan of that?” Rey stayed silent, not wanting to break the tentative truce. Sylo looked around and looked back at Rey. “What if I can help you leave?” Rey put her sandwich down.

   “Is this a trap?”

   “If it was, you’d already lose by not immediately saying no.” 

   “Why?”

   “Why would I help?”

   “Yes, that does come to mind. A Knight of the Ren helping a Jedi escape.” 

   “You’re telling me Master Ren isn’t trying?”

   “Let that go.” Sylo didn’t drop the knowing smile.

   “I didn’t get much of a choice in joining. As much as I’d like another female to join the Knights, you’d rather die than join and honestly, I have better things to do than babysit someone more powerful than me.” 

   “You could come with me.” 

   “No, someone has to keep Nelo from mass destru- well. I can’t. But you can leave.”

   “When?” A sly expression crossed Sylo’s face.

   “How about now?” Rey nearly choked on her drink.

   “What? There has to be some planning, doesn’t there?”

   “I’ve been thinking of 'plan B' since you’ve arrived, Rey. No one really thinks you can be a Knight. Better to have you leave than make an entire group on edge.”

   “So then what do we have planned?” Sylo stood up and went to a chair that held a box. She reached in and pulled out a simple bag. 

   “Here. Those are your clothes, cleaned. Although I still doubt you’d want to wear them anytime soon. We’d just have you leave via ship. You saw our dock, I’ve been keeping a spare ship, prepared for this. Nelo has probably already gone to bed or at least won’t go out after his defeat.” Rey took the bag and opened to see her clothes were indeed fresh and gave her an unconvinced look. “Relax. I may not have your level of powers but I am a Force user.”

   “What happens to you?”

   “Oh, I may just throw Nelo under the bus and put the blame on him.” Rey stood up. 

   “Alright. No offense, but I’m tired of that prison room.” Sylo looked pleased and she grabbed a rope from the box as well.

   “Just to make it look like I’m just moving you around. I’ll make it easy to come out so you can untie it to pilot.” Rey lifted her hands up and Sylo quickly tied her wrists together. “Come on, this is about the time most have reached the mess hall.”

   The distance to the dock wasn’t far and they met no one. Rey thought it was a little weird but was thankful nonetheless. They reached the large room soon enough and she suddenly felt Ben’s presence. His TIE fighter had obviously landed just before their arrival and Rey attempted to lower her Force to not draw his attention as she followed Sylo across the dock nearing a much smaller TIE fighter.  They stopped just prior as Sylo started pressing buttons on the door entrance when Rey noticed she was doing everything  _ but _ opening the door. She bubbled her anxiety and then dread hit when she heard his voice.

   “What are you doing?” He only needed to raise his voice to reach them, Rey refused to turn around as Ben tried to reach in her mind for an explanation. Sylo turned around and Rey paled at seeing a dark smile plastered on her face. She ignored Rey and looked at Ben who was walking towards them about sixty feet away. 

   “Ah, Master Ren.” 

   “I asked you a question. Don’t make me repeat it.” Rey turned around, finding him slowly walking towards them, anger coursing through him.

   Sylo didn’t respond. She stepped behind Rey and without a chance to move, felt a sharp blade inches from her last stab wound. She felt the pain and the sudden engulf of Ben in her mind. He physically didn’t react but his mind was screaming. Sylo twisted the blade and whispered into Rey’s ear.

   “That’s for killing my half brother. You know, he just had a child before you ended his life.” 

   “The bounty hunter.” Rey’s eyes blurred as she watched Ben quicken his pace.

   “Oh yes, you know he just became a father, too. You took that away. But worst of all, you harmed my Nelo and denied him what he desired. No one says no to my Nelo.” She twisted the blade, widely the wound, Rey tried to move away. “I wouldn’t struggle. The blade was dipped in a special kind of poison. Reacts really well with the what I put in your food with the added bonus of effecting your Force ability.” Rey lost her ability to stand as Sylo grabbed her shoulders to keep her up. “And your death is for distracting my master from his destiny.” Rey felt her heart pulse to nothing.

_    Rey… _

_    I’m sorry.  _ And Rey felt nothing as she closed her eyes for the last time. 

   Ben approached the two, Rey now on the ground. Sylo pulled out the knife and wiped the blood against Rey’s clothing. There was no saving her as Ben felt all his emotions swim around him. He looked at Sylo who looked innocently like he had ordered it.

   “What the fuck was that?”

   “It’s better than the death Supreme Master Snoke would have given her. Don’t tell me you’re upset.” He looked down at the body.

   “That was not your decision to make.”

   “You wouldn’t had made it.” He toggled his lightsaber on.

   “If you wanted a challenge, you should have just said it.” Sylo bowed.

   “I meant no off-”Sylo looked at Rey who started to glow, Ben studied the swirls of light the poured out of her being. “Master, what’s going on?” 

   “Step away from her.” Sylo attempted to move away as the light swallowed Rey; the bright light extended beyond her and seemed to whiff up towards Sylo, suddenly she screamed and pressed her hands against her eyes to stop the burning it gave over her eyes. Ben watched the lights waiting for his own personal torment and instead witness a great flash of light and Rey was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a delay. I had a job interview to prep for, and then my job gave me more hours than I anticipated, plus WoW has a new expansion coming out so I may have been distracted :3 High school and college kids are going back to school so I'm pushing closer to full time hours so next update will be a few days. Especially because I really want to produce a good plot; not just write because it's been a few days.
> 
> I, uh, spoilers, haven't put a 'character death' warning. Yet... But don't go thinking everyone is safe. As always, thanks for reading.


	26. AKA Compassion, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey is given an opportunity to learn who Ben Solo really is.

   Ben stood there, his mask looking at the blood by Sylo's feet then flung Sylo away from him with a flick of his hand. She gave a grunt when she hit the side of the TIE Fighter. Sylo stood up, prepared for the rest of her punishment as he lifted his hand again but then stopped.

   “I would suggest you leave my presence.” Sylo nodded then started to walk away. A few feet away, she turned back and yelled out.

   “What do I tell Nelo… and the others?” Ben looked towards her, his mask hiding all emotions except pure anger.

   “If you tell Nelo that you killed her but have no body to show for it, my master will hear of it and will not be happy. He had post-mortem plans for her body so I’d suggest you tell them she escaped from your watch. It will be less painful. If we weren't low of Knights, I would not hesitate to let my master know the truth of your piss-poor reason for revenge.” The longer he spoke, the more anger that seethed out of his mask; sh meekly nodded and half bolted away.

   For the first time, Ben felt completely angry at himself for not remembering sooner.

* * *

 

   Rey grasp for air with lungs that assumed it's days were beyond it. Brilliant, bright lights swirling around her body. There was something off with the swirls as she adjusted her eyes. Rey looked down and realized she was floating with a trickle of blood was flowing out of her side into the air. The droplets of blood were almost memorizing if she wasn't under so much pain.

   “You seem to constantly need to be rescued.”  The voice of Lux Tenebras echoed around Rey.

   “I thought I died. And I did such a shitty job preventing it. What is this?” She tried to move but she continued to just float in place.

   “You’re moments from true death. This is a place where time does not move as quickly. It seems your friend thought to until you were malnourished and exhausted to gain your trust.” Rey nodded then placed a hand against her injury, applying pressure against her bloody injury. Her body was covered in patches of deathly pale skin.

   “So then how much time do I have?”

   “Not long, I’m afraid.”

   “Are you going to heal me?” Rey ripped the hem of her tunic to create a long strip of cloth. Movements were slow and painful.

   “No.” Rey looked up confused as she wraped the cloth strip tight across lower ribs. “But I know who will. And I’d suggest you try to use this opportunity to _learn your purpose._ ” She felt warmth surround her and…

 

_Suddenly she stood in a dark room, awkwardly and in great pain, time catching up to her wound. A young adult jumped from his bed with his red light saber toggled on between them. The hum from the plasma was the only sound between before she collapse into the wall next to her. The boy took her weakness as a sign for an offensive attack and rushed forward. She slid down quickly and recklessly as the lightsaber hit the wall above her. The embers fell and burned her bare shoulders. Rey waved her hand and he was pushed back a foot away from her. She tried to use more Force to push him further back but her energy was draining too quickly. The man stood there with his lightsaber radiating red light over his body. She recognized the brown eyes staring angrily back at her._

_"Ben?” He faulted then took a step back in confusion._

_“Did Master Snoke send you?” Rey rested her head against the wall and pressed her wound._

_“A sixteen year old Ben, just peachy.” She shook her head. “Kind of need your help or you’ll have a corpse in your bedroom.” He narrowed his eyes but turned off his saber to determine her use. Ben snapped his fingers and his overhead light turned on. He stepped back from Rey as he saw the blood smeared against his wall and now his floor._

_“What happened? Why are you bleeding on my floor? And why are you glowing?”_

_“Has Sylo joined you yet?” His eyes light up in recognition._

_“Shit. Don't die, just hold on.” Ben turned around quickly and half ran from the room. She closed her eyes and counted her breathing as her lungs screamed from use, already prepared to stop moving again. She didn't noticed his presence until she felt a small jab above her wound and abruptly opened her eyes to see Ben nearly on top of her and looked down to see a long needle half inside her._

_“It’s an anti-venom shot. She liked to lace her blades from venom that's from her homeland. I grabbed a few in case she tried to go after me.” He placed another needle closer to her injury. “This is septic shot to stop the infection that’s-” he lifted her tunic enough to see the infected wound. “Definitely spreading. How are you still alive?”_

_“I wasn’t”_

_“Yet you’re here. Somehow. Glowing. How do you know my real name?”_

_"I’m still wondering why you would attack someone who falls to the wall.” The teenager looked annoyed._

_“I’m seventeen, not sixteen. You’re still glowing.”_

_“I think you've established that and in all likelihood, I’m not going to stop.” He reached into a small bag he had brought with him and pulled out clean dressing._

_“What are you?”_

_“Human.” Ben narrowed his eyes._

_“Did my mother send you?”_

_“No.”_

_“How did you get in here?”_

_“I don’t know.” He tighten the dressing around her wound, she winced from the pain._

_“You know my name so you obviously know what side I’m on.”_

_“I know the other name you go by, but I'm not calling you that.”_

_“You're dying in my bedroom. I don't think you get to call the shots." Her defiant glare negated his argument and he switched topics. "How did you get in here?"_

_“I don’t know.” He groaned in annoyance._

_“What’s your name?”_

_“Does it matter?_

_“Do you always do this? Avoid questions? I am a Knight of the Ren, I can and will get answers from another means.” He lifted his hand and Rey rolled her eyes._

_“You’ve already- look, does it really matter?”_

_“You’re a stranger in a First Order base, who's knocking on death’s door. You can’t stay in here with detection yet there’s no way you’ll be able to leave here. So you can either work with me_ **_and_ ** _maybe I’ll be able to get you proper medical treatment or don’t and you’ll get proper medical treatment as a prisoner.” Ben moved back to his bed and looked at her with as much as control as he could feign. Rey felt a power move within her and the glow faltered around her and then increased in brightness. She sighed in annoyance._

_“I’m Rey.” And suddenly she was gone again._

 

   Rey stood back in the nothingness with lights flowing through her.

   “You’re not even trying to find a purpose.” Rey stayed silent. “Rey, Rey, Rey.” The colored lights swirled closer around her. “If it makes you feel better, you weren’t meant to save the galaxy.”

   “I wasn’t?”

   “Not alone at least. You were meant to save **him**. Now stop wasting precious time and actually try to seek balance first within yourself so you can then bring balance to the galaxy. I’m tired of mothering you.”

 

_Rey faltered into a empty dark room. She looked at her surroundings to see a now familiar bed. The wall nearby was slightly stained dark brown. The bedroom door opened and Ben walked in looking at paperwork, the lights turned on and he looked up from seeing a body standing inside._

_“Are you still seventeen?”_

_“How did you get back in here?”_

_“I don’t know. How long has it been?” He put the forgotten forms on his nightstand and continued to watch her._

_“A few months. What is going on? You’re still glowing.”_

_“It’s a side effect.”_

_“It doesn’t look like it’s been a few months for you. The wound is still a problem.” He moved closer and Rey stepped back into the wall._

_“It’s complicated.”_

_“That’s all I’m going to get from you?”_

_“For now, I guess. But you don’t seem quite as surprised to see me.”_

_“Don’t play stupid.” Rey crossed her arms._

_“Did I look injured then too?” He thought about it for a moment._

_“You made me spare a boy.”_

_“I didn’t do anything. That was your decision.”_

_“The look you gave and the absolute dedication in protecting the boy said otherwise. But that also made me realize no one else tends to see you. Are you a Force entity?”_

_“I’m human.”_

_“Humans don’t glow.”_

_“You’re expecting honesty?”_

_“I did save your life.” She groaned and leaned against the wall and allowed herself to slid down slowly to reduce the pain._

_“I’m suppose to save you.” The late teenager narrowed his eyes._

_“So my mom did send you.”_

_“No. Although, I don’t quite know what I’m saving you from.” Ben gave a laugh._

_“I would have thought it was the Dark side.”_

_“Do you want to be saved, Ben?” He walked towards the door and looked back._

_“I'm going back to make plans. You’re starting to fade out again. Amd stop showing up in my bedroom.”_

 

_Rey stood again in his bedroom and gave an angry sighed. If these conversations were going to be so short, she would never be able to get this done and she was beyond exhausted. Her body needed rest. Ben sat at the edge of his bed, looking dejected with bags under his eyes. A lamp was lit in a corner._

_“I thought you were mad at me.”_

_“How old are you?”_

_“Almost twenty one.”_

_“Can I sit?” He moved towards one edge of the bed and she basically collapsed onto the bed._

_“Can you sleep in this… condition?”_

_“I don’t know. Did you do something that warrant me being mad at you?” He laid back down giving Rey an obvious berth of room._

_“I’m the Master of the Knights of Ren now.”_

_“I expected that.”_

_“You know what I had to do?” She opened her eyes and stared at his ceiling._

_“I’ve never taken the time to really know what you’ve had to do for_ **_any_ ** _of this.”_

_“Well, no wonder you don't know what you're saving me from." He yawned. "I kept hoping you were going to show up. Maybe to stop me. Maybe to just watch I don’t know.”_

_“It’s been, what, four years since you’ve seen me and you still expected me?”_

_“You’re Rey. The Rey I left at Jakku. I know those eyes. I figured you were my punishment while I’m still alive, to always witness my decisions.”_

_“Because you left me on Jakku?"_

_"If you died there, it would make sense that you’d come and…”_

_“I’m not dead. Have you not seen anyone from the Force; they’re transparent.”_

_“You’re not exactly solid right now.”_

_“I’m also glowing. That’s not a trait for the dead.”_

_“It could just mean for you to be only seen by me.” They laid in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, both tired with heavy shoulders._

_“I don’t appear to be in control of this. If I had known my lack of presence meant you’d spent my absence on theories of your own punishment, I would have shown up sooner. What makes you the Master?” He turned away with his back facing Rey._

_“Annihilate a village.”_

_“You did that by yourself?”_

_“Yes.” She moved her head and looked at the back of his head._

_“Did you want to be stopped?”_

_“No.”_

_“Then why did you want me to show up?”_

_“I don’t really know.”_

_“I don’t understand you, what you want, or what you’re trying to do.”_

_“You’re glowing more vibrant again.” She gave a heavy groan._

_“So I am. But I forgive your sins anyway.” And she was gone._

 

“How am I supposed to help him if you keep moving me around?” She was given no response and his room focused back in her surroundings.

 

_Rey rubbed her eyes as she adjusted, Ben was working on his desk, with a dark look in his eyes and gave her a studying look before working again. He spoke without looking back up._

_“You know that every time I try to leave for Jakku, something always gets in the way. Almost like someone is purposely stopping me.” She waved her hand indifferently._

_“How much time has it been?”_

_“Six months. Try to stay for more than a moment, I got something for you.” She walked over to his bed and fell right back on it as if it had only been moments instead of months._

_“What do the Knights need to do to join?” Ben stopped writing and got up. She stayed in her position and stared at the ceiling. His steps sounded as he was walking away and she turned to see him exiting his room and sat up. A minute passed and he returned with two items._

_“Here. Drink this, it’ll give you stamina. It looks like you’ve gotten no sleep since...well...” He handed her a cold cup filled with light yellow liquid. And then uncapped a needled filled with blue fluid. “You haven’t healed yet either. I’ve spent a couple years looking around for a boost in healing.” She narrowed her eyes and he rolled his eyes in response. “You’re pathetic looking and getting blood on my sheets. She sighed and held out her arm but he pushed it back and placed the needled into her rib near the wound with no warning. She glared as he pushed the liquid from the needle and felt the area mildly warm and almost irritating._

_“Don’t scratch.”_

_“If you’ve been looking for this for years then how did you think I could be dead?” He looked over her injury and handed the cup._

_“I was working through some moral issues then. You don’t explain anything to me so I had made my own conclusions.” She sat up and took a tentative sip of the yellow liquid._

_“How long has this been waiting for me” He ignored her and watched her continued sipping. “What do Knights need to do to join?” Ben moved back to his desk._

_“There’s no exact action needed. The dozen I have joined because they did various things and have an appreciation for the Dark Side.”_

_“Doesn’t it seem weird you needed to kill your students and then a village? It seems excessive.”_

_“Master- Supreme Leader Snoke believed I needed to be tested to show my allegiance to the Dark Side. How do you know about the academy?”_

_“Who doesn’t?”_

_“Why do you avoid these questions about yourself?” She finished the cup and swirled the bits still left inside._

_“We’ll get to me, okay? Just- why are you still helping me? Shouldn't you by now reported this to Snoke?”_

_“He’d kill you without thought. And I’m just using you until you stop showing up.”_

_“Using me how?”_

_“How’s the injury?” She rolled her eyes._

_“Who’s dodging now?” She looked at wound that was now tinting back to her tan skin. “That’s is impressive.” He nodded and then looked at her as she rolled bottom of her tunic back down._

_“Why haven’t you tried to persuade me to leave the Dark side?” She met his dark eyes and shifted uncomfortably._

_“You're awfully determined I'm suppose to get you to leave but I’m just here to understand. I… can’t exactly change the past, now can I?”_

_“Are you expecting to hear a sob story about how my classmates were afraid of me or how my mother never had time for me. Or my favorite; my own father disappointed in having a Force user as a son?”_

_“Is that what happened?”_

_“Bullying doesn’t create Dark users. They’re born that way. My grandfather started as Jedi and found purpose in the Dark side.” Her eyes went deadpan and he looked angry. “What happened to wanting to understand?” She shrugged._

_“_ **_I_ ** _didn’t say anything. It would bee a pointless argument anyhow. Go on.” He started to angrily write._

_“Supreme Master Snoke saw my talents being wasted and save me.” She crossed her arms._

_“That’s it? That’s all it took?”_

_“I’m not a Jedi, Rey.”_

_“It just seems pathetic that you joined because he said you were special.” The dark look did not sway her to continue talking. “You could have left Mast- Luke’s academy without joining Snoke and without killing. You had other options.” He stood up in anger._

_“You weren’t the one who had Master Snoke talking to you since you were barely an infant. You don’t understand what’s it like to be surrounded by people who hate you for not being pure in light or how your own uncle considered you a failure waiting to happen. Master Snoke accepted me as I am.” She shook her head._

_“_ **_I_ ** _accept you as you are. That doesn’t mean I want you going out of your way to kill people.”_

_“You said you don’t understand me.”_

_“Didn’t say I didn’t know you.”_

_“And just how do you know me? The real Rey should be safe in Jakku. I still don't understand anything about you." She stayed silent and watched him kicked his desk. "Are you telling me there’s another option?” She looked at her hand and watched the glow surround her outline._

_“It would require you to take on more personal sacrifice.”_

_“Of course it does.”_

_“I think you already knew that though.” She stood up and challenged his stare._

_“When?”_

_“You’ll have to continue this for a few more years.”_

_“Fine.”_

_“Fine? Just like that?”_

_“Yes.” She gave him a confused look._

_“How are you using me?”_

_“Just…” Her glow heightened in brightness and she rolled her eyes, yet again. “Just, as a sense of purpose.” She blushed as she faded and watched Ben turned around._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second time posting. The first time around my internet decided to just stop working and I usually edit here so then I had to redo all of that so I'm definitely ready for bedtime. Thanks for reading! I've separated the two parts because it's been over a week since I've updated. And I'm not quite sold on how I wrapping the second part. So if I come back to this chapter to have it flow better for the next chapter, I'll let you know!


	27. AKA Compassion, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey's journey through Ben's dark years may be ending.

_    “This is rare.” The voice was muffled by a his familiar mask as Rey felt droplets of rain hit her face but they simply fell off her with no resistance nor trace. She looked ahead to see a tall male wearing nothing but black as he stood over an overlook of a valley with dusk settling settling beyond the mountain ridge. The rain cloud above them was small and weak with it already starting to disperse. He turned around to face Rey and had obviously been standing there when the rain shower had passed by. He stood with much more confidence than she had seen so far with almost as much silent authority he had when she had first met him on Takadona. “I’m twenty-two before you ask.” She nodded silently as she studied him. _

_    “Why are we here?” The water droplets glowed against her skin creating her unusual glow to seem brighter. He said nothing but turned back towards the valley. She sighed as Rey walked over to him at the edge and saw a single light source a few miles away near the base of the mountain.  _

_    “I’m on a scouting mission.”  _

_    “That's awfully risky for you. Are you sure a Knight of yours shouldn't be handling this?” _

_    “Don’t patronize me. You’re already causing enough of a distraction as it is.” The light twinkled. _

_    “But why are you here instead of them?" His mask gave a chuckle. _

_    “Are you concerned over my safety?” She rolled her eyes. _

_    “Who’s patronizing who now?” His chuckled came out distorted from the mask.  _

_    “We had good intel that Luke Skywalker was hiding here.” _

_    “He’s not here.” _

_    “Obviously. If I thought he really was, I wouldn't have come alone.” He turned a look at Rey as if he suddenly realized what she said. “Do you know where he is?”  _

_    “Don’t ask something like that, Ben.”   _

_    “Where is he?”  _

_    “Why?” He reached for her wrist and yanked her towards him; breaking the gap between them. Rey tried to pull her wrist away but he only gripped harder. She glared at his mask before glaring as she reached with her free hand over to his mask. He flinched from her sudden touch as she unstrapped the helm causing Ben to release her wrist as the mask was removed. His eyes were bloodshot with a hardened expression and looked as if he hadn’t eaten in the last couple of days. His body didn’t react to the rain droplets that now fell occasionally on his face. “Ben.” His name created a crack in his facade.  _

_    “If you know where he is and won’t tell me- I’ll have to bring you in.” Rey fingers were lingering near his jawline with his mask lightly held away. _

_    “Don’t say things you can’t promise.”  _

_    “I-” He broke eye contact and stared at the mud. _

_    “Why are we standing in a rain storm over a valley?” His hand wrapped around Rey’s hand with the mask falling to the earth as his other arm pulled her into him. He nuzzled his head into her neck as she stood there unsure and stiff as his sudden cross of their imaginary line to touch.  _

_    Rey finally gave in and rested against him enough to no longer need to support both of them. She could smell smoke from his wet clothes. Ben seemed to noticed her shift in movement and lifted his head up and stepped away. Their hands parted as he removed his and started to rubbed his temples. His cheeks were tinted red and he refused to meet her eyes. It seemed as if Ben was desperately trying to patch his facade back over his face. _

_    “I can’t keep doing this. This… light and dark... It’s tearing me apart. Every time I see you, you bring me closer to the light side however, I don’t belong there. I don’t know what you’re really doing or what this is all supposed to be. If was a test for my master, I would have failed and continue to do so just because it’s you.  _ **_And I don’t know why_ ** _. So I’m doing what will end this all sooner and finding my uncle.” He looked back to the light source that had moved forward slightly up the mountain. _

_    “And once he’s found?” _

_    “It’s Snoke’s problem from there.” _

_    “That’s… really low. You think your imbalance is going to end with Snoke winning or do you think my presence is the reason for you unable to find your stability?” _

_    “I never had a problem until you showed up, half dead.” _

_    “Really?” _

_    “...Yes.” _

_    "Because that lie was awful.” He took a deep quick breath. _

_    “I am Kylo Ren. Master of the Knights of Ren. Destroyer of the Jedi. The grandson of Darth Vader. I will not be a pawn in your games any longer. I will do what I need to including bringing you back if it means I have an opportunity to leave this damn chest game. I’ve had it.” His voice was dangerously even-toned with sharp venom.  _

_    “You’re as bad as my master. Always quick to ‘sympathize’ and tell me whatever you think I want to hear but never willing to explain.” Neither noticed the rain droplets now frozen in time around them with an urgency of static building up. Rey reached up to touch his arm. He violently shifted his shoulder away from her.  _ _ “I don’t need you.” _

_    “What a change from last time, Ben.” _

_    “Kylo Ren.” _

_    “Regardless. Don’t act as if you’ve never had a chance. You didn’t  _ **_have_ ** _ to join Snoke. You didn’t  _ **_have_ ** _ to do anything of this magnitude. Don't play a martyr when you're not one.” _

_    “I-” _

_    “No, you listen to me. You’re acting nothing more than a child with a lightsaber. It’s only been a bit since we’ve seen each other and you quickly changed your mind on the whole thing. I said you were going to have to make personal sacrifices. Did you expect an easy way out? Or did the second it gets too hard, you decide to take the easy way out? You can tell me until you’re red in the face that you’re Kylo Ren but you will always be Ben Fucking Solo- so start acting like a grown adult.” His eyes flashed with a murderous look until he finally noticed the rain drops motionless around her face. He looked around them and saw the shower still falling beyond them and looked back at her. _

_    “Is that you or me?” Rey’s anger switched to confusion as she finally noticed the rain droplets building up around them. Her fingers touched a droplet in front of her and the water around them suddenly splashed and joined back to the pace of the storm around them. _

_    “It had to be you. I’m not in control of anything at the moment.” She looked back at Ben’s face which still held obvious signs of danger. _

_    “You’re lecturing me on control and you can’t even control yourself. That’s a bit hypocritical.” Rey rolled her eyes. _

_    “I don’t have control because I’m not the one doing this. I can’t give you what you want. There is **no** easy way out for you. I can’t just sit here and explain why I was half-dead all those years ago nor what I could know about Luke. None of this fully makes sense for me, either. Especially since I wasn’t told what could be done or said. All I was told was that my purpose was to save you. And I can’t fucking do that while glowing and having no control of my timing.” She study the trees behind Ben, refusing to look at his face but kept her head high. _

_    “I can’t help you right now. It’s…Look, you have a little over five years to prepare. Maybe this scattering of finding you in different places is the wrong approach because I keep messing up because I’m so confused about you that she keeps trying to find a moment where we won't have a pissing contest.” She finally met his eyes who were studying intensively straight through her eyes as if looking into her soul and she almost looked away. “Maybe my approach to only see you as Ben has been wrong, too.” Ben almost looked amused by her sudden confession before looking away from her eyes into the rain. _

_    “If I can control rain droplets, think I can control plasma bolts from guns?”  _

_    “I’m sorry- what?” He waved his hand and a few more droplets froze in place. He looked pleased at the sudden use of a new technique he never bothered with be. _

_    “That. I’ve never thought about stopping objects like this but if stopping rain is this easy, focusing on gun lasers could be beneficial.” _

_    “I’m sure you could figure it out but what does this have to do with-” _

_    “Five years. That’s pushing it. We may be too powerful by then but you want me to hold off for five years; allow the First Order continue taking over small systems before taking on the Resistance. I was just thinking of distractions to work on as whatever plan you have in mind will be in five years and then I’m done.” _

_    “Not exactly.” _

_    “Then what happens in five years?” _

_    “It’s… when Luke will come out; the beginning of the end of what you want.” _

_    “So I just stay as the Master of Knights until then?” Rey avoided his question. _

_    “Stay away from Jakku until then.” He narrowed his eyes. _

_    “Are you a projection and there still, right now?” _

_    “If you feel better about that explanation, then sure.” He suddenly cupped his hand between her jaw and ear as he quickly leaned down. His warm lips awkwardly met hers and Rey closed her eyes, feeling his presence seep into her skin. He parted just as quickly and let go of her face. Her face was burning red. _

_    “Not a projection.” _

_    “Not an object for you to use either.” _

_    “Didn’t seem to mind.” _

_    “This is not the time for games.” She stepped back away, her glow flickers and she watch it reflect against his wet black cloak. “I-” She looked up to his face. Ben’s facade was almost completely cracked with a tinge of blush on his tired face. All his effort for faux confidence and authority faded into nothing more than a boy who lost his way years ago who was trying to gain control again. “Practice stopping plasma guns with the Force. I’m sure it’ll come in handy.” With that, she faded from the dying shower into blackness.  _

* * *

 

_    Rey closed her eyes and opened them to find herself in Ben’s Tie Fighter’s cockpit. Ben was in the pilot seat toggling switch and appeared to be just starting for his course. He acknowledge her presence by pointing to the co-pilot chair and she quietly sat. _

_    “Twenty-four now. And you’re not wet. Do elements not follow you?” She looked at his map that flickered a location of a Republic city. _

_    “I guess not. Going on a day trip?” _

_ “vI told you that five years would take too long.” His mask drew out the words with a slight annoyance but his fingers shook with either quiet fury or fear, Rey could not determine which. _

_    “You’ve been brief with something.” _

_    “Hosnian System’s destruction.” _

_    “It will be successful.” He looked over to Rey. _

_    “Which side are you on?” _

_    “Yours if you’re nice. But definitely not Snoke’s.” He looked back at the console and grunted before taking off his mask. _

_    “You’ve seen the future?” _

_    “You got angry that I wasn’t telling you anything.” _

_    “So then how much do you know?” _

_    “You grow old as a proud father of seven children and two dozen grandchildren. Congratulations.” _

“Your sarcasm is noted but-” He looked back at Rey with concern. “You’re not glowing.” Rey looked at her hands and saw the outline of her body had returned to normal.

“Is anyone else on this ship?”

“No. I’m on another scouting mission. Is this suppose to happen?”

“I don’t know. But this isn’t-” Rey felt a sudden wave of the Force rush within her, her bond with Ben awoken softly and she felt the webs of thousands of lives around her. “-good. Don’t get near another planet.” He stood up abruptly and aghast. 

“We’re bonded- how?”

“Ben. Focus. If I’m noticed right now, especially by your master- it will” He waved his hand and her Force sensitivity lessened.

“I’m not going to be able to block all of you. Why. Are. We. Bonded?”

“It’s a combination of our fau- oh, fuck it. Clearly I’m already in trouble for sharing.” She stood up and approached the gap between them and yanked his arm, causing his tall body to lower to her height and pressed her forehead against his and closed her eyes. Rey poured her memories of their time from Starkiller and only from then. Ben’s Force fluctuated around Rey as he struggled to take in her thoughts and she moved away. He leaned against the wall and stared at Rey with a mixture of emotions running through his face. 

“I kill Han… my father.”

“Yes.”

“Is this apart of your plan? That appeared to be a younger you still and not quite happy to see me.”  

“I very clearly don’t have much of a plan beyond Snoke’s destruction. And yes, I was not happy to see you.”

_"_ And yet, you didn't seem surprised when I kissed you." 

   "Let it go. I'm not sharing everything with you."

“So I just don’t kill him.” She sighed and tore away from his desperate attempt to understand.

“It’s fixed. I didn’t tell you this so you could try and change it.”

“This is what I’m waiting for? To kill a beaten man who's just spent the last couple years doing risky smuggling jobs in hopes of an easy death?”

_"_ You've been keeping tabs on him?"

"I... Not the point." 

“You have to do what I just showed you for the sake of galaxy.”

“You didn’t appear to know what was going on then.”

“I didn’t. Which means you  **have** to do what you were already going to do.”

“So you’re still on Jakku right now. With no understanding of any of this. But despite me placing you away from all of this, will still be brought in.”

“Yes.”

“I-” He rubbed his temple. 

“I’m sorry. I’ll… I can be there with you. If that makes it easier.”

“How?”

“No more questions, Ben.”

“I want to know why you’re able to be here when you should be...barely a teenager.”

“Rephrasing into statements to ask questions doesn’t count either.”

“You’re starting to really frustrate me.” He glared at her and Rey crossed her arms challenging as they sped closer to his destination. Angry silence fell between the two of them and after minutes of it, Rey spoke.

“Consider me the Force’s attempt to find balance. But you’ll be told everything in time.” He mulled over her statement. 

“Is it worth it?”

“I don’t know. You're never going to fully escape the consequences of all of this.” She sat in the co-pilot chair. Their silence found them again until Ben moved back to his chair.

“Are you stuck here?” Rey looked at Ben who was looking at his mask on his lap for answers.

 

_    Have you figured it out, child? _

 

The voice filled her mind and she looked out of the window with stars passing by them. And then Rey started laughing causing Ben to abruptly look at her.

“No. I'm not” She struggled to talk as tears from laughter fell. “Apparently I was suppose to do this from the start. I’m not glowing anymore because I’m finally released from the Force. I can leave at any time.” Her laughter died suddenly and she leaned back into the chair attempting to breath.

“Are you going to leave right now then?” He looked back at the mask, refusing to look nor acknowledge her sudden lost of control.

“Do you want me to?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll stay for a bit.” He relaxed into the chair and they finally fell into comfortable silence. 

 

Rey awoke wrapped around a blanket in a cramp bed with soft breathing to her left. The bed smelled like Ben and her body relaxed as she rolled to see him asleep. He had obviously given her as much space as possible as he slept. She plopped her head back on the pillow.

“Don’t fake being asleep.” He didn’t move but his breathing adjusted towards a more normal pattern.

“I was asleep until you moved.”

“Did you move me here?”

“Who else would? You passed out pretty quickly and the chair isn’t suited for sleeping.”

“Hm.”

“I needed sleep, too. I still have my assignment and can’t risk getting caught because I yawned. It’s a Tie Fighter, it’s not I had beds to spare.”

“Yeah, that’s good reasoning.” He still hadn’t opened his eyes. “How much time until your arrival?”

“A couple hours probably.” 

“So then we have a couple of hours to kill, yeah?” Ben opened his eyes and Rey smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the ending seems OOC, I'm just going to point out that Rey has just returned from death windows, spent almost a day moving through time, and finally accepting that there's something about Ben she can rely on. But use your imagination on what they did. I like to think they were just talking for those hours. But Rey's head strong in doing whatever she wants and Ben would definitely follow her actions just because it's her.... so up to you. :D 
> 
> Also sorry, to be honest- I ran into some serious writers block and work morning shifts during the week so I'm normally too tired to want to write.


	28. AKA A Cycle Completed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Rey ends her journey in the past.

   Rey jumped out of the fresher from the cramp corner of Ben’s Tie Fighter. He had already left an hour ago which was fine with Rey as she really needed a few moments to herself. She tied her hair and took a deep breath as she looked over the small dock inside the Tie Fighter. She marveled at how his own personal ship could look as if no one was ever in it for long. She touched the wall and sighed before settling down on the cold metal floor.

   Rey concentrated on the Force around her, eager to allow the webs flow near by. She noticed Ben’s web had started to twist around hers and for the first time, she embraced it rather than be disgusted. It tugged slightly as if he was aware of her presence and she opened her eyes again, caught in delaying the inevitable. Rey stood and focused on moving closer to her time and after a moment, clapped her hands and her portal opened.

   She stepped out into Ben’s bedroom and sat on his bed. She felt his Force nearby and probed gently into his minded.

 _I’m in your bedroom._ Rey felt his Force shift and he responded back to her.

_I’m guessing a lock wouldn’t do anything? Should I put a bell on you so I know when you're here?_

_Consider this a bell to let you know I'm here. Just get here when you have a moment._ She lingered for a second longer before leaving his mind. Rey didn’t have to wait long as fifteen minutes later he dramatically entered with his mask and looked directly at Rey before taking his mask off.

   “It’s been a few years.”

   “You wanted me here when it’s time.” His already pale skin lightened.

   “I never actually agreed to that.”

   “You didn’t have to.” Ben moved to the chair across the bed and sat with his legs stretched out.

   “We just had a report that a friend of Luke might have information of his location. Ironic that’d he live in Jakku.” She gave a tight smile.

   “The galaxy is a small place.”

   “Are you going to share any information on that?” Rey stared at his uncertain face.

   “Spoilers.” She grinned.

   “I almost forgot how frustrating you can be.”

   “I’m going to get on your nerves in the next couple of days too.” He gave her a hard look and then smirked.

   “Of course you will.” They lulled in silence as he rubbed his temples before she spoke again.

   “You have a couple days before it'll happen.”

   “Mom’s going to make him try to save me, isn’t she?” She allowed her silence to answer. “Is there anything you’re going to actually share as you seem to know the future?”

   “Consider what I know as a vision which can easily be considered reality yet could be simply the Force showing what shouldn’t be.”

   “In other words, just do what I was already going to do.”

   “Yes.”

   “Are you staying for the next couple days then?”

   “No. I can’t hold off my presence for that long. And you’re going to be busy.” She stood from his bed as he continued to study the carpet.

   “What do I do about you?”

   “You try and persuade me to do what you’ve been hoping for since the last couple of years.” His cheeks redden but he did not move.

   “You know?”

   “We’re Force bonded. Obviously.”

   “I-” A speaker activated on his desk and an obviously scared soldier spoke.

   “Lord Ren. You’ve been requested by General Hux to attend a discussion in room 621.” Ben looked at Rey with annoyance and turned on his lightsaber. The soldier obviously heard the sound and stammered. “I-I’ll let him know you’ll be there soon.” The light turned off on the speaker and Ben turned off the lightsaber.

   “Please tell me Hux dies in the coming days.” Rey smirked and he gave a grunt before putting on his mask. “That’s not asking for much…” He walked out of his room as he mumbled out reasons for the general death. She shook her head with a chuckle but faltered as she remembered her next timeline goal. She opened the portal slowly and with as little desire as possible stepped through it.

 

   She arrived outside of Starkiller and immediately masked her presence. It was more chilly than she remembered and her breath gave a frosty response. She debated about going in the door that lead to where Han was more than likely now following his son and decided he would technically see her during the moment and walked into the woods.

   After a couple minutes, Rey felt Han’s living Force drain and momentarily mourned for the end of his physical presence. Ben’s emotions swirled inside her mind and she faltered from his overwhelming anger and grief. Rey left him alone. She only had a few minutes to move before he would start fighting Finn and herself. Soon enough, the sound of a lightsaber echoed the woods as she ran. The ground continued its violent bursts of quakes as another lightsaber erupted.  

   She saw a crack of land up ahead and bolted to a newly fallen tree. She huddled against its trunk as she heard one of the lightsaber cut off. Finn’s life force stammered around her before it stabilized. Rey was caught off guard at Ben’s sudden emotions of envy and pride with an overwhelming annoyance that radiated everywhere with the sound of a challenging lightsaber crackling. She closed her eyes and waited as they pushed closer to her. Rey tried to ignore her own presence with her emotions so obvious to any Force user. The ground shook again with the crack increasing in size; she opened her eyes to see it slowly passing her to the two around her fault.

   Rey held her place when the crack erupted into its large fissure. Heat radiated from its opening and Rey heard Ben plead to let him teach her. It wasn’t long before the rift now separated the two. A moment passed before she allowed herself to move from behind the trunk and ran to Ben, barely conscious. His blood covered the ground from Chewie’s wound and his face left everything exposed. He looked at her and laughed.

   “I guess I already forgot how stubborn you are.” She reached down and grabbed his arm to pull him up.

   “How are you getting off this base? We don’t have very long.” He winced from her yank as he steadied himself.

   “Hux has more than likely left without me. It’s pointless.” He faltered as Rey caught his weight again. “Isn’t this as it should be? Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren, killed on Starkiller. Oh how the galaxy will rejoice.” Rey rolled her eyes as the ground gave another shook.

   “You’ve done enough sacrifices today. What ship did Hux go in? Does it have a sick bay?” He eyed her suspiciously before swaying again. “Just visualize it.”

   “I’m going to die here with the ghost of my past. Don’t let me go by making me beg.”

   “Ben Solo. I swear to-” Briefly an image of a medical bay washed over Rey’s mind with Ben suddenly collapsing at her legs. The ground shook again as Rey groaned and quickly visualized the bay. She clapped her hands and half dragged Ben into it.

   A shriek told Rey before she had even adjusted to the off white overhead light that they had made it to Hux’s vessel. Three injured troops stared at Rey as the nurse continued shrieking.

   “Sleep.” She said it with too much force and while the troopers had simply fallen back on their cots, the nurse took a painful fall to the ground. Rey half dragged, half yanked Ben to the closest cot. His face had more blood than not but the bleeding had mostly stopped from her strike. Her biggest concern was not his wounds from Chewie or herself but the aura of defeat he gave, even unconscious. Rey sighed as she lifted Ben’s shirt to show Chewie’s mark and placed her palm over it.

   Using a quick healing technique Luke had shown her, she pulled the Force into the wound to persuade skin cells to regenerate. Rey felt him stir but she continued until she was sure the injury would no longer be an immediate cause for death.

   Rey took a step away to investigate for any skin graft solution for her own injury when his hand grabbed her arm.

   “I want the scar.” His hand didn’t let go and she looked back at him.

   “Why?”

   “You were expecting a monster under the mask.” His eyes stared into her own.

   “Five minutes ago you wanted to go along with Starkiller. Your opinion at the moment does not really matter.”

   “Rey.” She glared back as he tighten his grip, despite even that effort being as useless with how weak he was. Then she sighed and stepped closer.

   “You think killing Han is the crux to push you to that category?” He flinched at the name and broke their eye contact. She reached  over to his face and placed her palm near the wound. “Ben.” She allowed the Force the follow from her fingers to his cut. “You’re fucked up with one of the most frustrating tempers and constant ability to be obnoxiously dramatic but you’re not a monster.” She sat at the edge of the cot and Ben attempted to avoid her gaze. “Don’t use this time to self-deprecate but look within yourself for peace… I… this couldn’t be avoided-”

   “I assure you, I don’t need a pep talk from Ms. I-Shine-Light-Even-In-Sleep.”

   “Your sarcasm is noted and time for me to leave.” He finally turned back to her and opened his mouth but said nothing.

   “You’ll find me again in three years. But I won’t know any of this. So be patient. I’ll only know you as Kylo Ren and struggle with seeing you as Ben Solo.” She reached down without thinking and kissed his forehead. “Now sleep.” Her words laced with persuasion that he struggled to fight but lost in the end. Rey stayed for a moment before standing up and approached the unconscious group.

   “Awake.” The nurse slowly stood up, obviously confused as to why she was on the ground until she saw Rey standing before her and had started to panic. Each trooper made an attempt to get out of the cot to attack. “Stop moving.” They did so. “You will forget I was ever here. Kylo Ren came aboard this craft at the last minute and had joined this room shortly after. You,” she looked over to the nurse whose eyes were glazed over, “will close the curtains around Kylo to ensure privacy and tend to his wounds before the wounded troopers will wake from this trace.” She nodded slowly with the other troopers still paused, waiting. “You will come out of this trace in thirty seconds.” Rey closed her eyes and clapped to will a portal to arrive and stepped in exhaustively.

   She felt an unusual warm brace in the portal with the words “good” echoing throughout the journey which led her to feel almost rejuvenated when she stepped out into Finn and Poe's room to find not only her two friends sitting on their couch with a book in hand but her students pooled around them. Sesha was the first to react by crawling over to her.

   “I’m back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I believe we're down to about five more chapters! Sorry, I've been having to work more than forty hours the last two weeks and I've been unbelievably tired. The good news is that the chapters will be much longer.
> 
> Thanks for reading and feel free to comment on your thoughts!
> 
> Updated: Sorry, I realized I made an inconsistent conclusion of this chapter so it's been corrected to have Rey at HQ.


	29. AKA Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rey reunites with more than just her friends.

   Rey didn’t know which happened first; Ben’s sudden reach into her mind as a desperate plea to mark her as real and alive, Rhea’s sudden movement to get up and reach her as if for the same reason, or Taia immediately speaking to her, high pitched with urgent and utterly confused. Rey opted for Taia first and ignored Ben’s probing as she looked at the teenage girl. 

   “What did you say?” Taia gave an annoyed grunt.

   “ _ I said _ , how did you just show up in Uncle Poe and Finn’s room? And how are you alive? It’s been a solid month since anyone has seen you. And, oh my god, someone go tell Master Luke that Master Rey is back. No, Sara-Lynne- you’re too young to wander the halls. We’ve talked about this. Nika, go get Master Luke.” Nika glared at Taia, having no desire to leave while things were happening. Rey looked at her friends.

   “Uncle Poe and Finn?” It was Finn who seemed to redden while Poe seemed to enjoy the word in front of his name. He gave a cocky smile and Rey chose to save that for later.

   “Nika, please go get Master Luke.” He gave a dramatic sigh and left, mumbling. Rey looked at Rhean who seemed to have grown another inch in the last month while looking as if he hadn’t slept in just as long. She made a mental note of that observation and already felt overwhelmed by the large group. Taia looked as if she was about to speak again but Rey cut her off. “I’m back, I didn’t mean to take so long. I just-” The surreal of how young these Jedi were and how worn out they were worried Rey. “I apologize. I think it would be easier to simply answer questions than try to explain while we wait for Master Luke.” Taia was the first to speak.

   “What about my questions.”

   “I-well.” Poe spoke over her.

   “The same way you rescued us?” Rey sighed with relief. 

   “Yeah.” Taia looked unimpressed and started to speak again as the door rushed opened and Master Luke stormed in. His face looked directly for Rey and the obvious worry plastered over his face slightly withdrew. General Leia and Nika were right behind him. Rey felt the room couldn’t get anymore claustrophobic. Ben withdrew a bit from her mind as if in response to her thoughts. 

   “Master Luke.” He looked away from Rey and looked at the group around her. He opened his mouth, closed it, tried again and just stood there dumbfounded. His sister, instead, spoke up.

   “The First Order leaked a rumor that you escaped. But after a few weeks, we feared for the worst that you were killed.” 

   “It might be beneficial if that rumor is left uncorrected. I- I think we need to prepare the attack on Snoke. We should...” Rey paused and looked at the room. “Master Luke, surely not all the students need to be here?” Luke looked at the children and as if in agreement, Sesha gave a giggle. Luke made eye contact with Finn and Poe who sighed at each other and non-verbally debated between the two before the two finally brought their hands up for a round of ‘rock, paper, scissors’. Poe lost and stood up and motioned for the younger ones to followed after him while picking up a very happy three year now imitating a scissor with her fingers.

_    They have to know. _ Rey felt his recoil at what she said and felt his waves of emotions bleed into her. Her squad of teenagers sat stubbornly as others left. General Leia took the opportunity to sit next to Finn as Luke eyed each of his students. The silence in Rey’s mind gave her enough will to take that as not a 'no' and she started.

   “We can raid Snoke's real base with help from within the First Order.” A gleam of hope passed through Leia’s eyes and Rey looked away and faced her students, specifically at Rhean. “I don’t feel it’s best to send you all with me. This isn’t a game and by coming, you’d be accepting the chance of your death.” Multiple teenagers looked ready to argue and she placed her hand up. “You can make your arguments later. For now, let’s get the hard part over.” She leaned against the wall for a moment and then decided against it.

   “I’ve been trained by another Force user that has given me the knowledge to bend time and space.” Her words were slow as she struggled to put all that has happened into words. “Master Luke, Master Anakin and I felt such a power shouldn’t be misused and aimed for a plan that allowed us to right the wrongs of a fallen Jedi and change the course of this war. It’s how we saved the students. But I didn’t do that alone... I haven’t done  **any** of this alone. I… Look… Sometimes people aren’t what they seem… I...” The longer Rey tried to speak, the less words formed on her lips. She made the mistake of looking at General Leia who had tears building up around her eyes as if this moment hadn’t taken more than a decade to come. 

   “She’s working with Ben.” Luke spoke nonchalantly as the room suddenly seemed to stopped moving. Rey glared at Luke who simply study his fingernails indifferently. Finn looked from Luke to Rey with emotions swirling between his brows.

   “Kylo Ren? The same guy who tortured Poe. The same one who destroyed an entire system. The one who imprisoned us- again just a bit ago! The one who kidnapped you three years ago. How can you-”Rhean interrupted.

   “Ben has been trying to right those wrongs for years. I’ve seen him as he is now. He’s not some puppet for Snoke.” Rhean adjusted his robe as he stood among his classmates. He avoided Finn’s horrified look as Rhean tentatively looked at Rey. “Besides, they’re Force bonded. That’s gotta say something. Either Ben is actively trying to redeem himself by joining Master Rey or she has been playing double agent.” The glare Finn gave caused Rhean to shake his head quickly. “Sorry. Clearly Master Rey wouldn’t do that.” Rey puffed up.

   “I hadn’t anticipating needing to bring up being Force bond, Rhean.” He sheepishly looked down and fiddled with his sleeves. “But Finn, it  **is** true. He placed you and Poe in a lightly guarded room and told me where you two were. Ben isn't- I'm not going say he's a changed man filled with sunshine and rainbow with a vow to never harm another person.  But this is reality. And reality is that he’s a temperamental, dark person who realized he was on the wrong side and has always been on the wrong side. He’s may not be worth your trust. But trust me instead.”

   “He killed Han. Did you forget that too?” Finn mumbled. Rey opened her mouth to counter as General Leia interrupted.

   “Sometimes things must be done that require hands to be stained with blood. However pointless those sacrifices are in the grand scheme of things.” She looked at the teenagers and then the young adults and finally felt her age. “Not killing Han could have caused a worst outcome for everyone, including my son.  **Especially** my son.” She stood up. “Now is not the time to focus on Ben. We have intel now on the inside and we should use it. Whether he finds true redemption for his crimes-” Her eyes met Finn. “ _ Of all of them _ , will be determined after the battle. Until then, Rey, my dear, how do we get directly to Snoke.” Rey sighed and began talking.     

* * *

   Rey rubbed her temples as she nursed a cup of tea, willing the migraine to disperse. It was nearing the middle of the night and Rey was delaying the inevitable of talking to Ben. Poe was back in the room as Finn was now on babysitting duty for the rest of the younger students in another room. The teenagers were surrounding a table as they ate silently. Taia was pushing her food around, struggling to stay quiet. Every time she opened her mouth, Nika immediately kicked her leg. The turmoil between the siblings wasn’t lost to Rey as she stood away watching them all. Poe looked up from his plate and nodded to Rhean as the Resistance pilot stood up from the table and walked to her. He leaned against the wall and shoved more food as he spoke.

   “So we spent the last three years trying to hook you up with a good Resistance boy and you decide to fall in love with the _master_ of the Knights of Ren.” A utensil dropped to the table and suddenly Dalo and Sanni started laughing. Taia immediately started to speak as Nika once again kicked her.

   “It’s not like that.” It didn’t matter if she whispered it, the entire room could hear it.

   “No?” Rey looked down at her mug, still giving off wisps of steam.

   “I don’t recall saying the kindest things about him today.”

   “No, that’s true. You have pretty much sealed his fate with this plan.” She continued to stare at her mug. Poe sighed and lowered his plate. “Only you could make someone who’s fallen so far be redeemable.” Rey could hear Taia whisper how romantic she was and then a loud bang into the table.

   “That was up to him.”

   “You gave him a chance.”

   “No, I tried to kill him a couple times; his uncle and grandfather should get credit for believing in him..” Poe laughed. 

   “So you’re telling me you will walk away after this war including him because you’re most definitely not in love with General Leia’s son.” Rey felt the eyes in her room study her intensely. Her shoulders stiffened and she started walking over to the sink.

   “I'm a Jedi first. I have an academy to train and a galaxy to bring forth balance. If, and only if, Ben can manage to survive the coming days, he would have to face the consequences of his crimes. His defect to our side will not be enough to persuade any counsel to allow him to walk away unmarked. The humane approach would be a quick death during battle before the trials would face in the aftermath.” She dumped the full content of her into the sink. “I d-” Rey turned around to see the eyes still watching her. Taia had tears in her eyes while Rhean looked uncomfortable. The other teenagers looks as if they wanted to individually counter her point. She opened her mouth again but failed to find the strength to continue. Poe studied his friend with mixture of concern.

   “Well, he may have the advantage of having his mother, a couple of Jedis-in-training, and you to speak on his behalf. What type of freedom are we fighting-” Rey motioned her hand up to stop. 

   “You have entire systems already in fear of Kylo Ren with worlds destroyed by the First Order, and families lost. The voice of a few people will not be enough to silent the desire for revenge. Even if somehow he managed to become a free man after the trials, he faces constant dangers of assassinations from those who feel wronged. Snoke placed Ben and that Hux guy as the face of the First Order specifically to protect himself- it doesn’t matter if the mastermind is killed if the people see even one of the leaders still live. Don’t, Poe. This isn’t an argument you can win. If you want to put your energy into a task in the aftermath, it should be to find their soldiers like Finn and protect those people from facing war crimes they had no choice to partake in.” Rey walked out of the room as the group turned to look at Poe. 

   Kamm found her voice first and spoke, “is she right? Is that the future Ben faces?” Poe sat down at the table and pushed the half eaten food away. 

   “Possibly. Rey’s always been on the negative side of things when it comes to things like this… But what’s she describing is what happened after Luke’s victory thirty years ago. It took nearly five years for the war crime counsel to finish and even that almost went vicious if it wasn’t for General Leia’s active involvement in the counsel. I was born right after the victory but I do remember growing up hearing about death celebrations of Vader.”  Dalo gave a puzzled look.

   “Death celebrations?”

   “If you asked the average person what they thought of Darth Vader, they’d tell you he’s as worst as they come; despite that our victory came to his change of sides. It didn’t matter what happened, people remembered his crimes more than his redemption. So villages celebrated his death. It’s not so common now, but it is a rather violent one. This is probably what Rey was implying.” Taia tested her chance to speak and Nika rolled his eyes.

   “I only kept you quiet so you wouldn’t harass Master Rey.” Taia stuck her tongue out.

   “You have no trust in me, brother. Do you think Ben knows of these outcomes?” Poe stared at door for a moment.

   “Rey probably spoke because she’s already discussed this with him. She’s not one for false opportunism. I don’t know much about him beyond him capturing me… twice. And the stories Finn tells me. Frankly, Rey may be the only person I know that could handle him but he’s still dangerous. **And then** , even if the argument was made that she was always monitoring him, I don't know if I would like that. I can’t rationalize putting my friend through that even for feelings she obviously has." He harden his face. "You kids should get some sleep. As much as I love our nightly midnight snacks, I’m sure Finn is still struggling getting the younger ones to bed.” He stood and rubbed his neck as he walked out of the kitchen.  

 

   Poe stood in front of the room that was temporarily acting as Rey’s bedroom. His fist was inches from the door as he hesitated to enter. The pilot heard nothing in the room and sighed again for the third time in ten minutes. He lowered his hand and walked away while mumbling that “she’s always been bad at talking about these things.” Suddenly, his holodeck went off with a message from Finn. The message contained a few jumbled letters with a holo image of an obvious three year old taking a selfie with a pile of children sitting on top of his fiancee in the background. He laughed as he increased his steps to help Finn.

   Inside Rey’s room was indeed quiet with only a single lamp as her light source. She sat on her bed, crossed-leg and eyes closed. Her hair was tangled and down as if she forgot to finish brushing her hair. She felt his pull and allowed herself to follow into Ben’s mind.

 

_    They sat on a grassy cliff overseeing an ocean. The skies were a clear with duo moons as their light source with stars littering the sky. Rey avoided his gaze and stared out into the sea. _

_    “You might be full of light but you certainly seem to have a grim view of the future.” She flinched. _

_    “Don’t even start that. You’ve been saying from the start you weren’t going to live. Yet, I’ve only come to realize what you’ve meant. Do you expect to survive the battle?” She looked over to see her Ben finally in the right time era and blushed at the sudden thought. He seemed amused by her antics despite sounding indifferent.  _

_    “It doesn’t make a difference, does it? Although I never thought I’d live to see the day where you were finally caught up to me. It’s been a long three years, especially.” Rey laughed. _

_    “Only a dramatic person such as yourself can say something so dark and then so affectionate in the same breath.” Down below Rey thought she saw two large sea creatures jumping through the ocean’s break. “I’ve been keeping something from you. If I had known what I’ve known now, I would have-” She stood up. “I’m piss poor at these kind of things. Come on.” She reached out of her hand for Ben who quizzically took it and stood up next to her. Their surroundings fade as Rey moved their Force to her mind.  _

_    They stood now on top of the sea with the two moons shining on them. At once, Rey realized was the one they had only just looked over. “How strange our minds share the sea.” Ben looked at her. _

_    “Do a couple of creatures follow you, too?”  _

_    “A big black male with a little gray female that’s always together?” He nodded. She shook her head. “We really didn’t stand much of a chance against the Force.” She half expected one of the creatures to jump in front of them as if to make that point as she looked down and realized her hand still gripped his. He tighten as to make his acknowledgement of it. “Right, well, speaking of the Force. It does weird things. Including keeping things we didn’t expect to be saved.” Ben raised his eyebrow.  _

_    “Kid, I never expected you to consider me a ‘thing’ and after all the pep talks we had over this sea.” Han Solo stood in front of the two. Ben paled and tensed up unsure of what to do. His thoughts to flee ran through Rey as Han looked over him.  _

_    “Ben.” Han reached up to his son and rested his palm against his cheek. “It’s good to see you.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry :3 I ended up having to leave for three weeks to help train a new store and I'm currently in training myself to be a manager so my hours have been so freaking wonky that I've been too tired to write. And I didn't want to just shove something together especially because I think I'll be finish very soon with this fic (and I'm currently trying to draw a final drawing of Rey/Ben/and the Jedi teenagers for an additional final chapter ending). I swear I didn't abandon it!
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


	30. Chapter 30: Preparing for the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which both sides get ready for the final battle.

   General Armitage Hux hated a lot of things, especially anything that had to do with Kylo Ren. He woke up every morning hating that despite all _his_ hard work, he was sharing  _ his _ position of power with an emotional brat who  _ just _ happened to be skilled with the Force and a lightsaber... who didn’t even have a military rank! Nor the collective cool and wit that a military man of power should have. As he donned on his uniform General Hux raged silently over the morning report detailing new damages made from a certain broken lightsaber. 

   His breakfast of plain toast and fruit instill a quiet moment on the base, too early for a certain miscreant to be up, and the distant sounds of marching orders being given for morning practice were heard just outside his second floor window. Eyeing the report again, Hux grunted and stood up from his meager dining room. Not that Hux ever complained about how Kylo Ren’s living arrangement was twice as large and spacious compared to his. The three steps to his door was all that reminded him of his annoyance of such special treatment the brat received. 

   General Hux walked into the bare white hallway and scowled and turned back to his living quarters for his blasted report. The walk to the outside terrace, file in hand, was empty but the general did not show his disappointment at not able to try his recent perfection of his angry glare at any of the privates. Hux glanced at his wrist for the time when he stepped outside and looked around. His captain was late but for her, he consent it. 

   She arrived a few moments later as he stood near the edge of the terrace looking down into the training grounds. Hundreds of soldiers had begun their daily exercise and movement below looked as if chaos had erupted as sounds of grunts drifted up to him. These were the moments that almost calmed the general; the moments were he felt like he had absolute control; the moments were the Force did not touch him; the moments where that wretched  _ him _  did not belong. Captain Phasma approached, more files in hand with thermos bottle in the other. She wordlessly tilted the bottle towards him, Hux took the drink without moving his eyes away from the sea of movement. He didn’t have to know behind the mask was her smirking.

   “Yes, Captain?”

   “Strange isn’t it?” He waited. Her paused signified she was in a playful mood today and he allowed himself to give him.

   “What is?”

   “It seems the moody child has calmed down since his failed ‘capture’ of the girl.” He harden his stance at mentioned of the source of his anger and tore his vision away from the soldiers to look at his Captain.

   “What do I care about what Kylo Fucking Ren is doing or not doing?” The fact that she chuckled enraged him further.

   “Your blind rage towards him will get you in trouble, General. But you saw the reports, did you not?” He rolled his eyes.

   “I did. He continues to destroy things as if it matters not of who has to clean it up.” She pulled forward the records in her hand. 

   “These are the reports from the two years. Maybe I’m much more dense and foolish-”

   “It’s the two of us, Phasma. Don’t even try to lower yourself to a ditzy blonde.” He looked back to the training pit. She nodded once and begun again.

   “I do not believe he has been damaging things out of anger for a while but as an attempt to appear as such. The damages and amount have been declining and now seem to reach a plateau of consistency that is most suspicious.”

   “You suggest that something has changed.” Not a question.

   “Yes. I believe something happened.” 

   “For the good of our cause or has he turned to the rebel cause?” She hesitated.

   “I do not know.” The two stood for still as the dying sun rose from the horizon, slowly covering the land with yellow glow and warmth. Any soldier approaching them would assume the general and captain were in deep discussion and would know to leave. Afterall, years of practice has made them experts of distorting perception to others. General Hux broke the silence after draining his drink and taking her reports.

   “See that you do.”

 

* * *

   Rey awoke with a migraine and with a three year old snuggled into her chest, deeply asleep. She growled as she saw a note on the nightstand that simply wrote “sorry” with a crappy attempt of a heart underneath. Sesha responded by snoring into Rey’s chest. 

   She closed her eyes and allowed the wave of the Force wash her with the energy of those around her. She followed webs until she saw a collection of of tangled webs clustered just outside of the Rebel base near the trees. Luke appeared with the students and she sighed at the guilt of not there teaching with him. 

   Carefully she untangled from the blankets and the toddler then rubbed her temples in slight annoyance. From the corner of her eyes she noticed her holodeck producing a flashing light. She shook her head and turned to the other direction for a change of clothes. Rey shook her head again, pounding migraine increasing, as she noticed Ben’s seemingly detachment from her mind. She wasn’t surprised. He needed space to reevaluate his actions and the conversations that occurred last night with his father. 

   The jedi finally walked over to the holodeck as she cleared her mind, attempting to reduce the migraine. The deck still angrily pulsed with light determined to grab her attention and with annoyance Rey waved over the sensor. Reports filled up the space above the deck, splattered on top of each other as if to grab Rey’s attention individually. Images passed through with reports of the base finally having a chance to relay months of information to her. Suddenly, she noticed a small picture barely shown over other virtual texts trying to cover it up. She lifted her hand and motioned for the small picture to enlarge. 

   Rey couldn’t help but laugh. The words underneath were simply scribbled ‘thank you’ but she bore no mind to that but of a dark haired boy no more than four grinning ear-to-ear with a replica toy tie-fighter in one hand and a foam lightsaber in the other. Han Solo and Luke stood in the background with proud grins smugly plastered on their faces.  She didn’t hesitate to save a copy to her hard-drive before proceeding to wake the child to head over to training.

 \-----------------------------------------------

   Her own little group of Jedis appeared grim as she walked outside of the base with the babbling three year slowly walking next to her. And Rey meant slowly. She had counted to three hundred twice at the rate Sesha walked but everytime she tried to pick up the child a tantrum ensured and only delayed their arrival to the group. The group had reached a break and Luke nodded at her before separating the groups between the teens and the rest. Sesha waddled over to Luke and he reached down and picked her up and she had the audacity to giggle. Rey stuck out her tongue in annoyance as her group gathered.

   Luke waved and lead his group into the tree lines. Rey watched the remaining students as they formed around her silently. Taia broke the silence within seconds. Her brother rolled his eyes before the first syllable came out.

   “So when do we go and take out Snoke?” 

   “Quick for a battle, padawan?” Taia’s smile hesitated at the sudden though and looked away. Rhean instead spoke.

   “The longer we’re here, the more likely news of Luke’s return… with children… will pass to the hands of Snoke. No one will know who we are but with Luke, it’s reasonable to assume that people will make the assumption we’re Force sensitive. We need the high ground master.”

   “Well said, Rhean.” She lead the group to the thicker part of the woods. Silence followed the group as they walked through the thicket. She felt Ben’s presence flicker within her mind, hesitant but open. The plantation soon became unpassable and the small group stopped, darkness enclosed them as the suns could not pass through the forest. Unusually, Taia was lost in her thoughts and did not seem to notice their pause. Kamm instead seemed to want to break the stillness that had befallen them when a steady hum begun to encircle them. Rey seemed to no longer notice her group as she stared at the copse. Kamm opened her mouth, obviously getting more nervous by the hum. Sanni grabbed her blue hand and she closed her mouth. A few minutes passed as the hum seemed to move towards them, louder and more direct. Something was moving towards them and quickly. 

   Rey stood taller, waiting as the rest of the children naturally moved behind her with only Rhean seemingly determined to be next to her. She grinned towards him as the hum grew loud enough to be right on them. Red light bled through the trees until a slash of a broken lightsaber broke through the remainder of the thicket that separated them from the noise. 

   The lightstaber toggled off as the only source of light became the embers of the destroyed greens. He placed his lightsaber back on his belt and lifted his hood. Ben’s eyes only staring at Rey. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Hopefully able to crank out the last couple chapter soon. I've been dealing with a lot of issues at home so I apologize for disappearing


End file.
